President Donald Trump has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Pruitt is known for a number of things – as an ally of fossil fuels, a climate change denier and puppet for big money industry, but he is not known for protecting our air, water, or the environment. In fact, Pruitt is one of several state attorneys general suing the very agency he was picked to lead.

We all depend on a well-functioning EPA that will protect our air and water and in turn, our own health. Pruitt has consistently fought against the EPA and its efforts to regulate industry toxins and pollutants.

He has sued the EPA fourteen times. In one suit he fought against a regulation which limited how much mercury can be emitted from oil-fired and coal-fired power plants. This mercury-reducing regulation has saved countless lives and thousands of premature births. And why would Pruitt fight this? Pruitt has been in the pocket of industry and other polluters since his campaign was financed by the poultry industry during his run for attorney general in Oklahoma.

Since then, a New York Times investigation has also shown that energy companies have donated over $16 million to Scott Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general. Campaign donor and oil and gas giant Devon Energy even wrote Pruitt’s letter to the EPA fighting against pollution control of natural gas wells. To me, this is an egregious conflict of interest.

We can’t have someone with deep financial ties and obligations to the fossil fuel industry lead the agency whose mission is to defend human health and the environment. We need an administrator who will be guided by science, not money, and who will protect the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Senator Gardner, I urge you to reject Scott Pruitt’s nomination.

Kellie Pettyjohn

Mancos