New York, December 9 (RHC)-- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.  Pruitt has been one of the EPA’s fiercest critics and has led a legal effort to overturn parts of President Obama’s climate change policies, including his Clean Power Plan. 

Scott Pruitt claimed the science of climate change is "far from settled."  He is also seen as a close ally of the fossil fuel industry.  In 2014, The New York Times revealed that Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general had formed what the paper described as an "unprecedented, secretive alliance" with the nation’s top energy producers to fight Obama’s climate efforts.  The Times also exposed Pruitt’s close ties to the Oklahoma firm Devon Energy. 

In 2014, Pruitt sent the EPA a letter accusing federal regulators of overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in Oklahoma.  What Pruitt didn’t reveal was that the letter was secretly drafted by lawyers at Devon Energy. 

Senator Bernie Sanders said: "Pruitt’s record is not only that of being a climate change denier, but also someone who has worked closely with the fossil fuel industry to make this country more dependent, not less, on fossil fuels."