Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblyman TIM EUSTACE
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman VINCENT PRIETO
District 32 (Bergen and Hudson)
Assemblywoman MILA M. JASEY
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Gusciora and Assemblywoman Pinkin
SYNOPSIS
Opposes nomination of Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution opposing the nomination of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Whereas, Created in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established on December 2, 1970 to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting, and enforcement activities to ensure protection of the environment and public health; and
Whereas, With a stated mission to protect the environment and human health, the EPA, since its inception, has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people; and
Whereas, The EPA’s primary focus has always been, and should be, protecting residents of this country from threats to their air, water, and health, not serving as an advocate for the interests of the very industries that it is charged with regulating; and
Whereas, President Trump nominated Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of the oil and natural gas-intensive state of Oklahoma, to serve as Administrator of the EPA; and
Whereas, Mr. Pruitt has spent much of his energy as attorney general fighting the very agency he is being nominated to lead, and according to a biography publicly available on the website of the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General, Mr. Pruitt “is a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda”; and
Whereas, As Oklahoma Attorney General, Mr. Pruitt has engaged in lawsuits opposing EPA’s policies aimed at protecting air quality and water quality, including being part of the coalition of state attorney generals suing the EPA over its Clean Power Plan, which is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector, its regulations seeking to curtail emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from the oil and natural gas sector, and its regulation concerning the definition of “Waters of the United States,” which defines the rivers, streams, lakes, and marshes that fall under the protection of the EPA and the United States Army Corps of Engineers; and
Whereas, According to numerous press reports, President Trump has said “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”; and
Whereas, Strong environmental standards that protect public health and the environmental resources of this country are not contrary to a strong economy and the creation of jobs; and
Whereas, The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest environmental organization, released the following statement about the nomination: “Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires. He is a climate science denier who, as Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma, regularly conspired with the fossil fuel industry to attack EPA protections. Nothing less than our children’s health is at stake…”; and
Whereas, Instead of nominating a person who seeks to promote the lobbying agenda of special interests and believes that strong environmental protections are obstacles that should be dismantled, the President should nominate a person who is guided by science and will work to ensure that residents of this country have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, clean soils on which to live and play, and jobs that do not endanger their public health and safety; and
Whereas, In order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the country’s residents and its natural resources, it is altogether fitting and proper for this House to object to the President’s nomination of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House strongly opposes President Trump’s nomination of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and urges the United States Congress to oppose this nomination.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Congress elected from the State of New Jersey.
STATEMENT
This resolution expresses this House’s opposition to the nomination of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and urges the United States Congress to oppose this nomination.