Ken Cook, the president of the Environmental Working Group, said that “Scott Pruitt will go down in history as a disgrace to the office of EPA administrator”.
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Pruitt’s resignation follows months during which the EPA administrator has been embroiled in one ethics controversy after the next.
As Donald Trump announced on Twitter, Pruitt will be succeeded by career coal industry lobbyist and former Deputy EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler.
The Post story offered one supportive quote – Trump saying, “I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda”.
MARTIN: So tell us a bit more about Mr. Wheeler’s background – whom you know – and what will he bring to this position. Pruitt not only rolled back regulations and purged references to climate change, he also reduced information gathering, including a decision that stopped the collection of methane emissions data from around 15,000 oil and gas operations.
In his resignation letter, first obtained by Fox News, the outgoing agency head praised President Trump’s “courage, steadfastness and resolute commitment to get results for the American people”.
“Outside, he’s being attacked very viciously by the press”.
Mr Pruitt’s resignation is the latest in a long list of White House departures since Mr Trump took office a year ago.
The former EPA head reluctantly resigned on Thursday after White House chief of staff John Kelly informed him it was time to leave, two people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg.
Despite the laundry list of ethics complaints putting him on thin ice, Pruitt was invited to and appeared at the White House Wednesday for Trump’s Independence Day celebration, where he and other cabinet members received a shout-out from the president. Pruitt’s management of the agency has prompted a series of investigations. He described himself in his biography for that job as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda”. Pruitt proposed a year ago to repeal a key climate-change regulation of President Barack Obama’s administration, which aimed to reduce emissions of carbon-trapping gases from coal-fired power plants. Murray’s CEO Robert Murray has supported Trump for years, and long worked to do away with health and safety regulations like the Clean Power Plan. Lawmakers posed tough questions on a range of issues also including raises for top aides and reports of retaliation against EPA whistleblowers.
CHANG: What does Pruitt’s departure mean for the overall direction of the EPA going forward now?
This spring, Gowdy said Pruitt was not forthcoming with records.
Pruitt has been scrutinized for his use of a Capitol Hill condominium owned by the wife of prominent Washington lobbyist Steven Hart, whose firm represents fossil fuel companies. Pruitt’s time was marred by constant controversy.
Wheeler is a Butler County native and Case Western Reserve University graduate who formerly worked for Ohio GOP Sen.
Pruitt was reportedly taken aback by the request.
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Young, meanwhile, says Pruitt had been receiving criticism from both sides of the aisle.
