Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt will be the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency even after an attempt by Sen. Tom Carper (D) to delay a confirmation vote.
Carper joined more than 20 of his fellow senators in taking up the full 30-hours set aside to debate Pruitt’s nomination on the chamber floor Thursday night into Friday morning.
He says Pruitt was too cozy with fossil fuel interests while suing the very agency he will soon lead more than 10 times.
On Thursday, an Oklahoma judge ordered the release of thousands of emails between his office and energy companies that have been withheld from a public records request.
“There may be very damning information in those emails, and if there is, they’re going to hang like an albatross around his neck for as long as he’s EPA administrator. They will dog him every step of the way,” Carper said.
An NBC News report says Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons ordered Pruitt’s office to hand over the emails Thursday to the Center for Media and Democracy, which first requested them in 2014.
The group received 411 of the emails this week, according to the report, but it is still owed the bulk of the more than 3,000 letters identified.
If they do show embarrassing information, Carper says the emails could backfire on his Republicans supporters.
“They’re on notice – especially if these emails come back that are very compromising and detrimental, damaging to Mr. Pruitt – we’re going to have a lot of buyer’s remorse from the Republican senators who voted for him.”
The Senate confirmed Pruitt 52 to 46, with two Democrats, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) voting for him.
Republican Susan Collins of Maine opposed him.
