ICYMI: Portsmouth Herald Editorial: Senators Shaheen, Hassan "Right to Vote Against EPA Nominee"
ICYMI: Portsmouth Herald Editorial: Senators Shaheen, Hassan "Right to Vote Against EPA Nominee"
WASHINGTON - Today, the Portsmouth Herald highlighted Senators Shaheen and Hassan’s votes against Scott Pruitt's nomination to lead the EPA. The editorial calls the Senators' reasons for opposing Pruitt "compelling" and applauds them “for putting the health and safety of our state's residents above the greed and negligence of those who would pollute our air and water in blind pursuit of profits.”
Click here to read the full editorial or see below for excerpts:
Our U.S. Senators from Maine and New Hampshire will vote against Scott Pruitt's nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and their reasons are compelling.
As Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt has sued the Environmental Protection Agency 14 times, has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions from environmental polluters and has even sent letters under his own name that were drafted by industry lobbyists.
We applaud our U.S. senators for putting the health and safety of our state's residents above the greed and negligence of those who would pollute our air and water in blind pursuit of profits.
… U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, is troubled by Pruitt's rejection of climate science.
"Climate change is a direct threat to New Hampshire's environment, economy and way of life," Shaheen said. "As New Hampshire continues to combat carbon emissions and provide clean, safe drinking water, we need a reliable partner in the EPA to achieve those goals. Attorney General Scott Pruitt's environmental record is extremely concerning and his appointment would signal a capitulations to polluters."
U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, said: "After reviewing Mr. Pruitt's testimony, I continue to have major concerns over his unwillingness to fight climate change and his record of working to weaken critical environmental protections that our citizens need to thrive. Mr. Pruitt has a long record of hostility toward the Environmental Protection Agency, having repeatedly sued the agency that he's been nominated to lead in order to undermine protections for our air, land and water."
The EPA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970, in response to a growing awareness that polluting our air and water was bad for our health and posed a long-term threat to life on earth as we know it. Since that time we have learned painful lessons about the illnesses caused by air and water borne toxins.
... Senators who vote to approve Scott Pruitt are telling us they care more about the campaign contributions they receive from big oil, big coal and other polluters than they do about the health of all Americans. We're glad the senators from New Hampshire and Maine are standing up for us.
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