The Senate voted 52 to 46 on Friday to confirm Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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The Senate just confirmed Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, despite unreleased emails
Scott Pruitt has been confirmed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency despite an order that he release more than 3,000 emails with fossil-fuel companies.
scott pruitt
Pruitt, formerly Oklahoma's attorney general, enters the job as a high-profile legal opponent of the agency who has publicly touted his efforts to fight EPA regulations.
Two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, both from states with large fossil-fuel industries, broke party ranks and voted for him. One Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, voted against his confirmation.
The vote came despite an effort by Senate Democrats to delay the vote until February 27.
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Pruitt was ordered late Thursday by a judge in Oklahoma to release more than 3,000 emails with fossil-fuel companies sent during his time as the state's attorney general.
His office did not release the emails despite repeated requests from state residents. The judge's order requires the office to do so by Tuesday. Democrats argued that the emails might contain damning evidence that Pruitt colluded with polluting industries, while Republicans argued that Pruitt had been forced to wait for his confirmation long enough.
Here are some key things to know about the new EPA administrator's environmental record:
- 800 former EPA officials
- appears not to have been true
- always to block environmental regulations and cleanup efforts
- appear to have been written by oil companies
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