Politics

Trump's Pick For Environmental Protection Has Ties To Oil Lobbyists

As Oklahoma's attorney general, Scott Pruitt was caught letting lobbyists for an oil company write letters under his name.

Trump's Pick For Environmental Protection Has Ties To Oil Lobbyists
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Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has deep ties to Big Oil.

Scott Pruitt even let oil company lobbyists write letters under his name.

In his 2014 re-election for Oklahoma attorney general, in which he ran unopposed, energy company campaign finance groups and executives raised $114,000 for Pruitt. That included $5,000 from Devon Energy, whose lobbyists wrote letters for Pruitt.

"We have an abundance of coal. We have about 500 years plus of coal reserves. ... And so we've got tremendous resources in the country, but you have a president who's trying to keep us from accessing those resources," Scott Pruitt said in a Oklahoma Farm Bureau video.

SEE MORE: A Sharp Decline In Coal Use Fuels Drop In Carbon Intensity

Pruitt is also a very public climate change doubter.

Supporters say Pruitt will loosen restrictions on farms and ranches, as well as restrictions on oil and gas companies. 

But opponents say it's wrong to put a climate doubter in charge of the EPA.