LA City Council's Opposition To Trump's EPA Pick Snowballs

LOS ANGELES, CA — What started as a simple resolution Friday before the Los Angeles City Council to symbolically oppose Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency may grow into a much longer list.

The resolution -- introduced by Councilman Paul Koretz -- says Pruitt's appointment "would impact the health and welfare of the American people and the environment."

Pruitt, who is attorney general of Oklahoma, is President Donald Trump's nominee to head up the EPA. He has close ties to the energy industry, has sued the EPA in the past and at his Senate confirmation hearing said the level of human impact on climate change is "subject to debate and dialogue," all of which are pointed out in the resolution.

The council was set to vote on the item but tabled it until Tuesday because, as Council President Herb Wesson put it, "there are other names we may want to put on the list" of Trump nominees the council opposes.

The resolution also says that Pruitt would not commit to keeping in place the current version of the decades-old federal waiver that allows California to set emissions standards stricter than elsewhere in the U.S.

"Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma has built his career suing the agency he would oversee," Koretz said. "Instead of protecting our health and environment, he wants to reduce the protections on our air and water and challenge the idea of federal action to control pollution."

City News Service; Photo: Scott Pruitt Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons