Without One Mention of Climate Change, Scott Pruitt Greets EPA Employees

Newly sworn-in EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, whose nomination was ardently opposed by environmentalists and who is poised to roll back major climate and clean water regulations, addressed his employees for the first time Tuesday afternoon.

During his remarks, in which he did not mention the pressing crisis of climate change or the matter of public health, Pruitt quoted Sierra Club founder John Muir, saying: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in.”

“John Muir is rolling over in his grave at the notion of someone as toxic to the environment as Scott Pruitt taking over the EPA.”
—Michael Brune, Sierra Club

Environmentalists were not impressed.

“John Muir is rolling over in his grave at the notion of someone as toxic to the environment as Scott Pruitt taking over the EPA,” declared the Sierra Club’s executive director, Michael Brune.

It’s difficult to imagine that EPA staffers—hundreds of whom publicly opposed Pruitt’s confirmation in the days before the Senate vote—were too pleased, either.

“For some scientists in the agency, [Pruitt’s] first speech was probably the equivalent of Voldemort himself walking into Hogwarts and assuming the top job,” wrote Andrew Freedman at Mashable.

Pruitt addressed that tension obliquely, telling those who were gathered: “Civility is something I believe in very much. We ought to be able to get together and wrestle through some issues in a civil manner.”

The Los Angeles Times reports: