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Sarbanes Statement on Confirmation Hearing for Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator

January 18, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) released the following statement today as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee considered Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency:

“I am deeply concerned by President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the EPA. Scott Pruitt has a longstanding and cozy relationship with Big Oil and Gas, and his record of opposition to basic environmental protections is a deep cause for concern. Like my fellow Marylanders, I take great pride in being a steward of the Chesapeake Bay. Thanks to the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint – a unique agreement between the EPA, Washington, D.C. and the six states that share the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – we are finally starting to see progress in the Bay’s overall health. But over a thousand miles away, as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt joined a lawsuit to kill the Bay cleanup plan. His allegiance to special-interest polluters knows no geographic or practical boundaries. If he is confirmed as EPA Administrator, it would threaten all of the gains that we’ve made. Our local economy depends on the vibrancy of the Chesapeake Bay, and we can ill afford Scott Pruitt’s pro-pollution, special-interest agenda.”

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Issues:Environment