Trump to nominate climate change sceptic Scott Pruitt to lead US environmental agency

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a critic of federal environmental regulation, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The choice enraged environmental activists and cheered the oil industry, as Pruitt is seen as an ally of the fossil fuel industry.

He has been a key player in legal challenges against EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Reuters news agency, the choice signals that the Republican President-elect plans to move ahead with his promise to cut back regulation and free up drilling and coal mining, in a likely reversal of Democratic President Barack Obama's environmental agenda.

“We’re very accustomed to the naysayers and the critics,” Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said. “Attorney General Pruitt has great qualifications and a good record as AG of Oklahoma and there were a number of qualified candidates for that particular position that the president-elect interviewed. We look forward to the confirmation hearings.” 

Pruitt has called the EPA’s rule “unlawful and overreaching” and has cast doubt on the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity is causing the planet to warm. “That debate is far from settled,” he said in May. “Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.”

Since becoming the top prosecutor for the oil- and gas-producing state in 2011, Pruitt, 48, has launched multiple lawsuits against regulations put forward by EPA, suing to block federal measures to reduce smog and curb toxic emissions from power plants under Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

"For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn," Trump was quoted as saying in a statement from the transition team.

Pruitt would "reverse this trend and restore the EPA's essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe", he said.

"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 was quoted as saying.

The transition team statement called Pruitt "a national leader against the EPA’s job-killing war on coal" who will help implement Trump's energy plan.