Dear Senator:

On behalf of our millions of members, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national, state, and local priorities.  Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation.  The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media. 

We urge you to oppose the nomination of Scott Pruitt for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and we want to be unequivocal that we will score this vote.  This is a departure from our standard procedure of sending a letter to the full Senate when a floor vote is imminent and noting a given vote will be considered for inclusion in the National Environmental Scorecard.  Given Scott Pruitt’s radical record and the far-reaching damage he could do at the helm of the EPA, this is not the time for standard protocol.

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment – our air, water, and land. Unfortunately, Scott Pruitt’s record is completely antithetical to this vitally important mission. Not only does he deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity, as Oklahoma Attorney General he has sued the EPA on numerous occasions to block efforts to cut carbon pollution and weaken safeguards for our air and water.

In addition, Pruitt has extremely close ties to fossil fuel interests, which have donated more than $340,000 in campaign contributions to him during his political career and nearly $3.5 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association during the time he was at the helm of that organization. Not only did he defend and echo groups like ExxonMobil’s denial of climate science, he literally sent letters to the EPA and other government agencies that were written almost entirely by fossil fuel lobbyists.

Pruitt fails the basic test of basing decisions on sound science and upholding our nation’s bedrock environmental and public health laws. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to oppose his nomination and assure you this vote will definitely be included in the 2017 Scorecard. If you need more information, please call my office at (202) 785-8683 and ask to speak with a member of our Government Relations team.

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski

President