The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday in a mostly party line vote.



The confirmation vote came after contentious hearings during which Democratic lawmakers questioned Pruitt over his ties to fossil fuel companies, his multiple legal challenges to EPA regulations and his public statements questioning the science behind climate change.

Senate Democrats boycotted a committee vote to move forward Pruitt's nomination earlier this month and stretched debate before the full Senate into the early hours of Friday. On Thursday evening, some Democrats again called for Pruitt's confirmation vote to be delayed after an Oklahoma judge ordered his office to turn over thousands of communications with fossil fuel companies to a watchdog group.</s>The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a federal regulatory agency the Oklahoma politician has built his brand fighting against.

Pruitt has led a coordinated legal effort to fight the EPA through the courts, an alliance with other Republican attorneys general that’s made him popular among conservatives. The confirmation sends a strong signal that Congressional Republicans share with President Donald Trump a vision of diminished federal oversight of the fossil fuel industry.

John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, on Friday accused the EPA of mounting an eight-year “regulatory rampage.”

“The EPA’s overreaching regulations have stunted job growth, hurt our economy and failed to help the agency meet its mission,” he said on the Senate floor.

The 52 to 46 vote fell largely along party lines. Oklahoma’s Republican senators Jim Inhofe and James Lankford voted yes to confirm Pruitt.

“Scott Pruitt is a highly qualified, principled man, and will make an exceptional EPA Administrator,” Inhofe said in a statement after the confirmation vote.

Two Democrats broke rank and voted for Pruitt: Senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, defected and voted against the nomination.

Democrats and environmental groups fiercely opposed Pruitt’s nomination and campaigned relentlessly to derail his confirmation, citing the Oklahoma attorney general’s close financial and political ties with the fossil fuel industry and his statements questioning climate change science.

“He will not be an advocate for the American people that the EPA is charged with protecting,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said in the hours before the final vote.

Pruitt has declined interview requests since his nomination as EPA administrator.

At a six-hour Jan. 19 confirmation hearing, Pruitt said he did not think climate change was a hoax — a position proffered by Sen. Inhofe and President Trump. Pruitt acknowledged the role humans and CO2 play in fueling climate change. But he questioned the degree of that influence in statements that don’t align with the scientific consensus that such activity is “extremely likely” the central reason global temperatures are increasing.

Speaking on the Senate floor shortly before the final vote, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said climate change is not an issue where an EPA administrator should be skeptical.

“Either you accept the overwhelming opinion of climate scientists and researchers — or you don’t,” he said.

Pruitt has filed or joined at least 14 lawsuits against the EPA — efforts designed to block rules on mercury, regional haze from coal-fired power plants and President Obama’s signature Clean Power Plan — a well-publicized legal crusade Democrats and environmental groups said made the Oklahoma attorney general unqualified to serve as the nation’s chief environmental watchdog.

Republicans on Capitol Hill and in Oklahoma pointed to Pruitt’s role in negotiating the settlement of a long-running dispute between the state, Oklahoma City and Native American nations over water that was settled in August 2016as proof that the Oklahoma attorney general is capable and interested in building a consensus on divisive environmental issues.

Democrats boycotted procedural committee hearings to stall Pruitt’s nomination and sought to delay the final confirmation vote until internal emails with fossil fuel companies sought by a watchdog group and ordered released by an Oklahoma judge were made public. In response, Republicans accused Democrats of obstructionism and throwing a political “tantrum.”

“It is simply about their disappointment with the results of the November election,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, said during a Feb. 2 hearing boycotted by Democrats.

Democrats and environmental groups also pointed to Pruitt’s record in the Oklahoma attorney general’s office in opposing his nomination as EPA boss.

After taking over as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt dismantled an Environmental Protection Unit created by his predecessor and created a new Federalism Unit to fight what he considers federal government overreach. Pruitt says environmental enforcement continued under the authority of a different unit, though court records and state financial data suggest environmental enforcement hasn’t been a top priority of the agency under his leadership.

Pruitt walked back a legal fight to clean up eastern Oklahoma rivers polluted by chicken manure after accepting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions linked to the poultry industry, a report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group verified by StateImpact shows.

Republicans, alongside oil, gas and coal companies, championed Pruitt as a regulatory reformer. They said the Oklahoma attorney general will reel in an EPA that is strangling industry and the economy with unnecessary regulations.

As the 14th EPA administrator, Pruitt is taking over an agency of 15,000 employees, some of which fought hard to keep him from getting the job. In a rare public display of resistance, waves of workers called their Senators in protest, and 773 former employees signed a letter opposing his confirmation.

StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma’s public radio stations and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online.</s>WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency Republicans desperately want to rein in after what they charge was eight years of dangerous activism under the Obama administration that hurt businesses, jobs and the economy.

Pruitt maybe just the person to do it. As Oklahoma attorney general he sued the agency many times in that pursuit and has vowed to curb the EPA’s regulatory reach once in office.

Democratic senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who both represent energy producing states, voted for Pruitt. Moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine voted against him.

“He’s exceptionally qualified,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “He’s dedicated to environmental protection. And, as someone with state government experience, he understands the real-world consequences of EPA actions and knows that balance is the key to making policies that are sustainable over the long-term.”

The vote came a day after a federal judge ruled the Oklahoma attorney general’s office must turn over thousands of emails related to Pruitt’s communications with fossil fuel companies, which have a large presence in his state.

Environmental activists and many Democrats pushed to delay the confirmation vote until those emails are released — probably sometime next week — but Republicans had no interest in a delay, especially after Democrats deliberately slow-walked the confirmation process for many of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

In a last fit of protest, Democrats kept the Senate in session overnight so they could make speeches about their concerns with Pruitt and his close ties to the oil and gas industry.

“Mr. Pruitt has extreme environmental policy views. And he has zero experience running an environmental protection agency. In fact, he does not believe in the fundamental mission of EPA,” said Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico. “Attorney General Pruitt made his name opposing EPA rules that protect human health and the environment, fighting against clean air and clean water, disregarding the science behind the EPA’s protections for human health and the environment, on behalf of for-profit special interests, not the public interest.”

At a press conference Friday, Merkley said the first batch of emails will be released on Tuesday, with a second batch released on February 26. They scanned documents will be transferred to the Center for Media and Democracy, then the Senate will get copies. So Democrats originally requesting the vote be postponed until March 3, but that request was denied.

Democrats also lost a motion to extend debate until February 27, in a mostly party-line vote.

McConnell argued that Democrats were simply using stalling tactics. “The goal here is to feed the base, to give people a chance to get organized and complain and they want to have Pruitt out there over the recess so all of their supporters can come express themselves,” McConnell told reporters Friday.

In an extraordinary lobbying blitz against Pruitt, the labor union that represents EPA employees urged their members to call senators and urge them to vote against Pruitt.

The Senate is scheduled to begin a week long recess after votes Friday and will return to confirm more Cabinet nominees when they return.

Next up will be Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross, Interior nominee Ryan ZInke, Housing and Urban Development nominee Dr. Ben Carson, and Energy nominee Rick Perry.</s>The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Senate approved Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA today (February 17) via a 52-46 vote. Two Democrats—Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota—supported him. One Republican—Susan Collins of Maine—voted against him.

The nominee to lead the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, is up for his final confirmation hearing before the full Senate today (February 17). The vote is expected at 1 p.m. ET. However, that will not happen if Senate democrats are successful in their current action to push for a delay—and tactic which began yesterday afternoon.

Senate democrats have been holding the floor since 3:30 p.m. ET yesterday, citing concerns about Pruitt’s climate denial, his record of litigation against the environmental agency, ties he has to the fossil fuel industry and the implications of each on the environment and public health—particularly among communities of color, the young, the elderly and, more broadly, the disenfranchised.

Democrats hope to have the vote pushed until next week so that Senate members can review emails between Pruitt and mining and drilling companies like Koch Industries. Oklahoma County District Court Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons ruled yesterday that Pruitt must hand over more than 2,500 emails to the Center for Media and Democracy in a lawsuit, Center for Media and Democracy v. Scott Pruitt, the group launched against him on February 7. The center had been requesting these documents since 2015 with the attorney general failing to provide them, resulting in a violation of the state’s Open Records Act. Many senators have expressed concern over these emails during yesterday prolonged confirmation hearing.

This is not the first time Senate Democrats have taken a stand against the nominee, including a boycott earlier this month for Pruitt’s committee hearings. In that instance, the remaining Republicans on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works ultimately maneuvered around their absence through a rare suspension of rules.

EPA employees, including scientists, lawyers and policy experts, have also been calling their senators to ask them to vote against Pruitt, The New York Times reports. They’ve also resorted to social media to post messages urging others to make calls.

“It is rare,” said James Thurber, the director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, to the Times. “I can’t think of any other time when people in the bureaucracy have done this.”

Still, the nominee’s confirmation is expected to pass as two Democrat senators, Heidi Keitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, have said they’ll vote for Pruitt.

This tension and debate comes at a time when environmentalists are worried for the agency overll. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced legislation on February 3 to abolish the EPA by the end of 2018. In addition, two unnamed sources told Reuters, in a story published yesterday, that President Donald Trump is “preparing a handful of executive orders to reshape the agency, to be signed once a new administrator is confirmed.” They did not disclose any details on what the orders would include.

Watch the Senate hearing from the beginning yesterday or live here on C-Span.</s>Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been confirmed as the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency Pruitt has long criticized.

The Senate approved Pruitt on a 52-46 vote on Friday afternoon, with two Democrats — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — voting for his nomination. Republican Susan Collins of Maine voted no.

The vote came after a failed Democratic attempt to delay the confirmation proceedings until after a new batch of documents from Pruitt's state office are made public under court order. Those emails will be released beginning next week.

Pruitt has come under fire for coordinating closely with energy companies in his attempts to scale back and block federal environmental regulations. The New York Times reported that at times, Pruitt had simply copied and pasted suggested language from an energy company onto state letterhead, and then sent it to the EPA.

Pruitt will almost certainly take the EPA in a drastically new direction.

The agency aggressively drafted and enforced new environmental rules during the Obama administration, tightening federal standards for vehicle emissions, water quality and pollution at power plants. Pruitt is expected to slow or reverse much of that, scaling back regulations and deferring to states on environmental enforcement.

As Oklahoma's attorney general, Pruitt led legal challenge after legal challenge against EPA regulations, even describing himself in his official biography as "a leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda."

Pruitt argued during his confirmation hearing that he wasn't against environmental quality standards — he just thinks that they are better enforced on the state level. "The states are not mere vessels of federal will," Pruitt testified. "They don't exist simply to carry out federal dictates from Washington, D.C. There are substantive requirements, obligations, authority, jurisdiction granted to the states under our environmental statutes. That needs to be respected."

That's a view shared by many Republicans. But former Bush administration EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman told NPR she's worried Pruitt's skepticism goes too far for him to be an effective head of the agency. "He seems to have a level of distrust that is unusual coming into an agency, because it doesn't necessarily bode well for good relations with the career staff that are there, with whom you have to work and you need to get things done," she said.

Whitman also questioned Pruitt's belief in climate change. While Pruitt did tell senators during his confirmation hearing that "science tells us that the climate is changing and human activity in some manner impacts that change," he said "the extent of that [human] impact is subject to continuing debate and dialogue."

Regardless of Pruitt's personal beliefs on climate change, he's expected to dismantle the EPA's main rule aimed at lowering the United States' carbon footprint: the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan.

The rule would lower carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by about 30 percent over the coming decades, and is the linchpin of the United States' plan to meet its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Clean Power Plan is currently held up in federal court. President Trump campaigned on reversing it, and Pruitt was among the state attorneys general who sued to block the regulation from ever taking effect.</s>On Friday afternoon, the Senate narrowly confirmed anti-climate change Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Ironically, Pruitt is a long-time critic of the EPA, and has spent his career attempting to weaken the agency. Now that he has been confirmed as its head, its future is uncertain.

The New York Times reports that the vote to confirm Scott Pruitt mostly fell along party lines.

Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, voted against Scott Pruitt’s nomination to head the EPA, but even that was not enough. Democrats Heidi Heitcamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin III (D-WV), whose states depend heavily on coal and fossil fuels, voted to confirm Pruitt. Democrat Joe Donnelly of Indiana refrained from voting. Arizona Senator John McCain skipped the vote, preferring to attend a conference in Germany he had scheduled months ago over that of Pruitt’s EPA confirmation vote.

Although he has voted to protect vital resources and wildlife, McCain last month tweeted his support for Pruitt.

Scott Pruitt’s confirmation to head the EPA bodes ill for the future of environmental and wildlife protection. Indeed, in his own home state of Oklahoma, the city of Mangum experienced 100-degree weather just last week — in the middle of winter — when temperatures for the town average about 56 degrees at this time of year.

Oklahoma is also the same state climate change skeptic Sen. James Inhofe represents, and Inhofe is also the same senator who brought a snowball into the Senate in an effort to “prove” climate change is not real. What Inhofe fails to grasp — or willfully ignores — is that climate change doesn’t just mean hotter temperature, although that is one major indicator. According to the EPA website, indicators of climate change also include more extreme weather patterns, more intense cold spells and “regional changes in floods, droughts, and wildfires.”

Inhofe publicly expressed support of Pruitt as head of the EPA last December in a statement on his official Senate web page.

According to the Weather Channel, the southern plains experienced an “all-time record” heat wave due to southwestern winds out of Mexico and south winds from the Gulf of Mexico. Portions of West Texas also experienced 90-degree weather, and the EPA has blamed the steadily climbing temperatures on human activities.

Democrats urged Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to delay Pruitt’s confirmation vote until next Tuesday to give them time to review emails Pruitt’s office was ordered to release that pertain to his communication with the fossil fuel industry. Opponents of Pruitt believe that damning evidence lies within the 3,000 emails that could have rendered him ineligible to lead the agency he has spent most of his professional life trying to dismantle. Of course, McConnell refused to delay the vote, and Pruitt was confirmed despite serious questions about his ties to the fossil fuel industry as well as his climate change skepticism.

With Scott Pruitt at the helm of the EPA, environmental scientists and activists worry that he will undermine the agency’s ability to mitigate the effects of human activity on an ever-warming planet. Given his record against solar power, water protection, and pro-fossil fuel stance, it is more likely than not that environmental concerns will suffer under his tenure.</s>US President Donald Trump's nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scott Pruitt has been sworn in as the head of the agency. The US Senate confirmed his vote on Friday (17 February) despite objections raised by the Democrats and environmentalists.

Democrats held the Republican-controlled Senate floor through the night on 17 February to put pressure on the chamber to delay the confirmation vote.

However, the Senate voted 52 to 46 in favour of Pruitt's confirmation.

Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, is reported to have voted against him, while two Democrats from energy-producing states – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota – voted in favour of the controversial leader.

"I have no doubt that Scott will return the EPA to its core objectives," said Republican Senator James Inhofe, also of Oklahoma. He accused the agency of being guilty of "federal overreach, unlawful rule making, and duplicative red tape," during Barack Obama's presidency, Reuters reported.

However Wyoming Senator John Barrasso thinks, Pruitt would "bring much needed change" to the EPA. He said the EPA "has made life hard for families all across America".

With Pruitt's confirmation, the POTUS has filled 14 of his 22 cabinet posts.

Pruitt is known for being extremely critical of the agency, which he now heads. He has sued it more than a dozen times when he was the attorney-general of Oklahoma. His appointment is said to be perhaps the most controversial one in the history of the EPA.

Hundreds of former EPA staff wrote an open letter to the Senate, urging it to reject Pruitt. They said he had "shown no interest in enforcing environmental laws", with some calling him an "unqualified extremist".

The controversial appointment also came amid concerns that Trump might sign an executive order to ease regulations on drillers and miners. Democrats, who boycotted an earlier vote, claimed Pruitt was too close to energy companies.

They demanded that Pruitt hands over at least 3,000 requested emails that he had exchanged with oil and gas executives to the watchdog Centre for Media and Democracy (CMD). The emails were reportedly exchanged while he was Oklahoma attorney general.

On Thursday (16 February), a judge in Oklahoma ordered him to release those emails by 21 February. The 48-year-old Republican had refused to submit the emails for more than two years.</s>The close 52-46 vote was nearly along party lines aside from aisle-switching by Susan Collins (R-ME) to oppose and Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), both from coal-rich states, to support. Democrats fought all night to delay the confirmation vote until next Tuesday, after which the Oklahoma attorney general's office is ordered to release 3,000 of Pruitt's emails concerning his communications with the fossil fuel industry, according to The New York Times.

Since early December when Trump announced Pruitt as his pick to head the agency, reporters and environmentalists were quick to point out his numerous lawsuits against the EPA in his position as attorney general of Oklahoma. This singular drive to challenge national environmental law aimed to return all regulatory power to states -- convenient for an AG with such close ties to the fossil fuel industry, as when he reprinted a note from an oil and gas company nearly word-for-word on his letterhead and sent it to the EPA in 2011. Who knows how much of the department will be left now that its frequent enemy is heading it.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are poised to use their majority to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, despite calls from Democrats for a delay.



A vote on Scott Pruitt's nomination is set for Friday. As part of a public records lawsuit, a state judge in Oklahoma on Thursday ordered Pruitt to release thousands of emails that he exchanged with oil and gas executives by next week. Pruitt, who is Oklahoma's attorney general, has refused to release the emails for more than two years.



Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Pruitt's nomination last month, citing his refusal to hand over the emails, and on Thursday called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to delay Pruitt's confirmation vote until the nominee turns over the thousands of requested emails from his time as attorney general.



Republican leaders, however, have shown no signs they intend to wait for the documents to be released before voting to confirm him.



"Scott Pruitt is the most thoroughly vetted nominee we've ever had to lead this agency," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "These boycotts and these delay tactics do nothing to protect our environment or the health of Americans."



So far, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is the lone Republican saying she will vote against Pruitt. Her no vote could be canceled out by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of coal-dependent West Virginia, who is expected to cross party lines to support Trump's pick.



To dramatize their cause, Senate Democrats kept the Senate in session through the night with a series of speeches opposing his confirmation. Democrats were still marching to the floor at daybreak.



Pruitt's nomination was strongly opposed by environmental groups and hundreds of former EPA employees, who predict he will roll back the agency's environmental enforcement efforts. During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Pruitt said he disagreed with Trump's past statements that global warming is a hoax. However, Pruitt has previously cast doubt on the extensive body of scientific evidence showing that the planet is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame.



The 48-year-old Republican is closely aligned in his home state with oil and gas companies, whose executives have backed his political campaigns. Though Pruitt ran unopposed for a second term in 2014, public campaign finance reports show he raised more than $700,000, much of it from people in the energy and utility industries.



The Center for Media and Democracy filed multiple public records requests for Pruitt's emails to coal, oil and gas corporations going back to 2015. It sued him last week.



In a hearing Thursday, Oklahoma District Court Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons concluded "there really is no reasonable explanation" for why Pruitt's office hasn't complied with the request for his emails. Timmons ordered Pruitt to turn over the records by Tuesday and to comply with other open records requests by the group in 2015 and 2016 within 10 days.



Pruitt's office says about 400 documents were turned over on Feb. 10, but Timmons says more than 3,000 have been withheld.



As attorney general, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits challenging EPA regulations. He joined a multistate lawsuit opposing the Obama administration's plan to limit planet-warming carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. Pruitt also sued over the EPA's recent expansion of water bodies regulated under the Clean Water Act. It has been opposed by industries that would be forced to clean up polluted wastewater.



Democrats pressed Pruitt during his confirmation hearing on whether he would recuse himself from those still-pending cases. Pruitt said he would review his involvement on a case-by-case basis and recuse himself if directed to do so by the EPA's ethics office.



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Tim Talley contributed from Oklahoma City.



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Follow AP environmental writer Michael Biesecker at Twitter.com/mbieseck</s>The U.S. Senate this afternoon confirmed President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, even as he faces a new court order.

An Oklahoma district court judge Thursday ordered Pruitt, the state’s former attorney general, to turn over thousands of communications with major coal, oil and gas companies from his time in office.

The nonprofit watchdog Center for Media and Democracy had requested the public records two years ago, and the judge ruled there had been an “unreasonable” delay in responding to the request, demanding that Pruitt comply by the end of the day Monday.

The Senate confirmed his nomination this afternoon, 52-46, even after Democratic senators expressed outrage overnight that Republicans were going ahead as scheduled, despite the judge’s ruling.

One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who had said she would vote no before Thursday’s news of the court ruling, held to her vow to vote against Pruitt today. Another, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., skipped the vote, as did Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.

But two Democrats -- Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia – voted for the controversial nominee, giving him the votes he needed.

Democrats had pushed Pruitt during his confirmation hearing last month about whether he used a private email account for state business and had turned over all of those messages. They say the records could prove improper connections. For years Pruitt has been accused of siding with oil and energy companies in exchange for campaign donations, which he denied at his hearing.

Asked by one senator whether he solicited money from a number of energy companies while attorney general, Pruitt, 48, said he “attended fundraising events as an attorney general along with other attorneys general” and denied asking several energy companies for money.

He also said he worked to represent the "voices of all Oklahomans,” including the energy industry that has a major role in his state.

Pruitt has faced fierce opposition from the country’s leading environmental organizations since his nomination was announced in December.

He has spent much of his career suing the EPA -- 14 times in total -- over clean water regulations, limits on carbon pollution from power plants, and new standards for mercury and other air toxins. Pruitt had described himself on the attorney general website as a leading advocate against the “activist” agenda of the EPA.

Michael Brune, executive director of the environmental Sierra Club, said his organization, 2.7 million members strong, was prepared to fight the incoming administration in court and push environmentally minded reforms in the marketplace under a secretary Pruitt.

“He is unfit to serve in this position,” Brune told ABC News last month. “He is dangerous to the EPA.

“We will hold Scott Pruitt accountable to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which are both bipartisan legislation."

Brune accused Pruitt of lacking the “basic knowledge” to head the agency tasked with keeping the country’s environment safe and clean.

Republicans, though, have stood by Pruitt. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., congratulated him on the nomination and immediately offered his support.

“The EPA is the poster child for agencies in need of immediate reform and Scott has the resume and energy to turn this bureaucracy around,” he wrote in a statement. “I’m confident he will work to find reasonable solutions rather than simply working to grow the reach and power of the federal bureaucracy.”

But nearly 450 former EPA officials wrote to Congress last week urging Senators to vote against Pruitt today.

In the letter, the former government officials wrote, in part, “every EPA Administrator has a fundamental obligation to act in the public’s interest based on current law and the best available science. Mr. Pruitt’s record raises serious questions about whose interests he has served to date and whether he agrees with the longstanding tenets of U.S. environmental law.”

Even current employees at the EPA have been protesting his nomination, with the union president of the American Federation of Government Employees National Council of EPA Locals No. 238 telling ABC News he is bracing for large-scale budget rollbacks.

For Pruitt's part, he praised the work of agency staff in his prepared opening remarks at the confirmation hearing.

“It will be my absolute privilege to work with the thousands of dedicated public servants at EPA who have devoted their careers to helping realize this shared goal,” he said.

“I’ve always said that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life, and I know those who work at EPA do so because of their tireless dedication to what they do.”
With a 52–46 vote, the U.S. Senate confirms Attorney General of Oklahoma Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Breaking with party lines, Republican Susan Collins opposed the nomination, while Democrats Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin supported Pruitt, who has been described as a climate change denier with a history of criticizing the agency he now leads.