WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt on Friday to run the Environmental Protection Agency, putting a seasoned legal opponent of the agency at the helm of President Trump’s efforts to dismantle major regulations on climate change and clean water – and to cut the size and authority of the government’s environmental enforcer.
Senators voted 52 to 46 to confirm Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who has built a career out of suing to block the E.P.A.’s major environmental rules and has called for the dissolution of much of the agency’s authority. One Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, crossed party lines to vote against Pruitt, while two Democrats, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, both from coal-rich states where voters generally oppose environmental rules, voted for him.
Friday afternoon, the NALP released the following statement in response to Pruitt's confirmation:
The professional landscape community applauds today's Senate confirmation of Scott Pruitt as our nation's top environmental executive. We greatly appreciate Administrator Pruitt's stated mission of ensuring that the Environmental Protection Agency does not unduly burden businesses with costly and unnecessary regulations. We look forward to working with Administrator Pruitt and others at the EPA in pursuit of a common sense regulatory approach that protects the environment and at the same time allows landscape professionals to provide their services without unneeded interference. – Sabeena Hickman, NALP CEO.
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