by Ken Root
Listen Here: Profit Matters 12-8-16
Pictured: Scott Pruitt
Scott Pruitt, Attorney General of Oklahoma will be the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
He questions climate change and likes fossil fuels. He is anti-regulation but he also has fined suit against required expansion of blending ethanol into gasoline.
What was the reaction of Agricultural leaders in that state to his appointment as head of the EPA?
Rural Oklahoma Network reporter Carson Horn talked with three association leaders, First Oklahoma Farm Bureau president Tom Buchanan
?Oklahoma Farm Bureau congratulates Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt on being named administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Donald Trump administration.
?Pruitt?s selection as EPA administrator is a win for farmers and ranchers across the country. As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt has been a staunch advocate of agriculture and Oklahoma Farm Bureau. He continuously has defended farmers and ranchers against the EPA and has led the charge in suing the agency over its burdensome regulations such as the Waters of the United States rule and the Clean Power Plan.
?We are confident Pruitt will restore the EPA to its constitutional role, allowing farmers and ranchers to freely produce the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world.?
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall also released a statement regarding the appointment as well.
?President-elect Trump?s selection of Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency is welcome news to America?s farmers and ranchers-in fact, to all who are threatened by EPA?s regulatory overreach-and should help provide a new degree of fairness for U.S. agriculture. We know that in his position as attorney general in Oklahoma, Pruitt has stood up for common-sense, effective regulation that protects the environment and the rights of the regulated community. We have been grateful for his effective legal work in response to EPA?s overreaching Waters of the U.S. Rule.
?We anticipate that as EPA administrator, Pruitt will listen to our concerns and those of others who work with the nation?s natural resources on a daily basis. Agriculture is a profession based on a solid ethic of conservation. It helps guide everything we do, and we expect that Pruitt will understand that in regulatory matters dealing with agriculture and the environment.?
American Farmers & Ranchers President Terry Detrick asking his thoughts regarding President-Elect Trump’s decision to appoint Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as his administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency. AFR is affiliated with the National Farmers Union.
Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Michael Kelsey also commented on the appointment and released the following statement.
“The appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is fantastic news for agriculture and the environment. Mr. Pruitt has demonstrated a keen understanding and support for science based, common sense oriented environmental policy that protects natural resources while promoting efficient and effective agriculture production. He knows full well that farmers and ranchers are the original stewards of the land with the chief goal to pass their farm/ranch to the next generation. We look forward to working with him and his staff.”
Thanks to Carson Horn from the Rural Oklahoma Network for those reactions.
