Nevada Conservation Group Slams Pruitt Nomination for EPA
Suzanne Potter, Producer
Thursday, January 26, 2017
CARSON CITY, Nev. – For the first time in eight decades, Nevada's oldest conservation group is publicly opposing a presidential Cabinet nomination - that of Scott Pruitt for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt currently serves as attorney general in Oklahoma. Lewis Carpenter, regional representative for the National Wildlife Federation in Nevada, said he's concerned that Pruitt will weaken environmental protections for Nevada's wild places.
"Sportsmen in particular in Nevada understand that without clean air and water and habitat, there is no hunting or fishing,” Carpenter said. "And repeatedly, Pruitt has used the power of his office to try to overturn water and air safeguards that protect fish and wildlife and public health and natural resources."
Pruitt has sued the EPA 14 times, often questioning the science that underlies many of the regulations, and arguing that the rules hurt business and cost jobs.
He has tried to block the Waters of the United States rule, which specified which waterways require environmental protections. And he opposed the Clean Power Plan, which would force coal-fired power plants to emit less pollution.
Carpenter warned that some of Nevada's most popular getaways could become polluted if Pruitt's industry supporters get their way.
"There's some really great recreational opportunities throughout Nevada, you know, big Colorado River lakes like Mojave and Mead and Pyramid and Walker lakes in the north,” he said. "There's countless wetlands and water bodies and rivers and streams that hunters and anglers and others rely on, and they're all at risk under a Pruitt EPA."
Pruitt's nomination is expected to go before the U.S. Senate as early as next week. Nevada's Republican Sen. Dean Heller has not announced whether he will support Pruitt, but Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto recently tweeted her opposition.
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