Washington, DC— In response to Scott Pruitt’s introductory speech to the EPA today, LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld issued the following statement:

“Scott Pruitt’s inaugural speech did nothing to address our grave concerns about him.  It’s clear that he wants to take the environmental cop off the beat and let Big Polluters have free reign to pollute our air and water, and damage our health and climate. Pruitt has been a shill for the fossil fuel industry his entire career, and there’s no reason to believe he’s going to stop now that he’s the head of the very agency in charge of protecting human health and the environment.

“We call on Pruitt to stop catering to corporate polluters and start caring about families whose children suffer from asthma attacks due to smog and air pollutants, communities whose drinking water has been contaminated by lead, toxic chemicals and agricultural runoff, and future generations threatened by the negative impacts of climate change.”

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