By Jacqueline Pitts, The Bottom Line
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has selected Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who grew up in Kentucky, to serve as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Pruitt is well-known nationally for his legal battles against regulations being passed down from the EPA currently under the Obama administration. Specifically, he has led the fight against the Clean Power Plan and Waters of the U.S. rule which the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has opposed.
“The American people are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessary EPA regulations, and I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses,” Pruitt said Wednesday following the announcement.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the following statement regarding Pruitt:
“The EPA is the poster child for agencies in need of immediate reform and Scott has the resume and energy to turn this bureaucracy around. Scott already stood up to the EPA in instances of federal overreach in his and other states, and I’m confident he will work to find reasonable solutions rather than simply working to grow the reach and power of the federal bureaucracy.”
The new EPA head is a Kentucky native who attended Lafayette High School in Lexington, the University of Kentucky and Georgetown College.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Pruitt was born in Danville, but grew up in Lexington where he was a standout football and baseball player at Lafayette, earning a baseball scholarship to UK, where he played second base.
After a year, he transferred to Georgetown College, where he earned degrees in political science and communications. He moved to Oklahoma to attend the University of Tulsa College of Law, and ended up staying there, according to the article.
For more state government news go to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s The Bottom Line blog.
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