PROVIDENCE, RI – During a meeting with leading environmental advocates, educators, conservationists, and state officials, U.S. Senator Jack Reed announced he will oppose President Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, because he believes Mr. Pruitt will significantly weaken clean air and clean water standards.

Reed convened the meeting at Save The Bay’s headquarters in Providence to discuss how local environmental leaders can work together to protect and restore Rhode Island’s natural lands, resources, wildlife, and watersheds, including Narragansett Bay.  The forum focused on the new Trump Administration’s approach to environmental policies regarding wetland protection, offshore drilling, and the Clean Power Plan, and how that approach may impact Rhode Island and the planet.

“Clean air and clean water are so important to our economy, health, and quality of life.  I am concerned that President Trump doesn’t value environmental protection or the scientific evidence that many policy decisions are based on.  He has already begun an assault on our environmental laws and this could reverse the hard fought progress we have made,” said Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior & Environment, which oversees federal funding for the EPA.  “President Trump made it clear he wants to eviscerate the EPA.  Doing so could jeopardize public health and the health of our environment.  It could also impair the state’s ability to continue environmental clean-up, conservation initiatives, and clean water infrastructure projects.  Scott Pruitt has a record of undermining clean air and clean water protections and denying climate science.  I will vote no on his nomination, and I will vigorously oppose the Trump Administration’s misguided budgetary policies and all other efforts to undo environmental protections.”

Mr. Pruitt, who currently serves as Attorney General of Oklahoma, has strong ties to the oil and gas industries and has repeatedly sued the EPA to relax regulations on companies in these fields.  Last week, Republican senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee suspended rules that required at least two Democratic senators be in attendance and voted 11-0 to approve Pruitt’s nomination without any Democratic support.  The full U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Mr. Pruitt’s nomination next week.

Reed noted that soon after President Trump was sworn in, all references to climate change disappeared from the official White House website and were replaced with a section titled: “An American First Energy Plan” that pledged to eliminate “burdensome regulations on our energy industry …such as the Climate Action Plan.”  A gag order was also imposed on EPA scientists and other officials to temporarily prevent them from speaking about climate change or other issues.  Reed called these actions “alarming” and said he is working with his colleagues on legislative proposals to ensure that federal science research, data integrity, the scientific process, and the communication of scientific findings will remain free from political, ideological, or financial influence.

Senator Reed also noted that the point person for the Trump Transition Team’s EPA group has publicly stated a desire to slash $1 billion from EPA’s annual budget and reduce EPA staffing levels by about half nationwide.  Such cuts would have a detrimental impact to environmental protection and conservation in Rhode Island.

“Rhode Island is a national leader in terms of environmental protection.  But pollution doesn’t stop at state lines.  If the Trump Administration follows through with its budget cuts, environmental roll backs, and patchwork regulation, the consequences for our state could be devastating.  Rhode Island alone can’t stop cross-state pollution.  Regional environmental protection is the federal government’s responsibility, and I will do everything I can to ensure the federal government does its job to protect the environment and public health,” concluded Reed.