Scott Pruitt 'worst nominee ever tapped' to lead EPA, according to Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh
The right to breath clean air and drink clean water will be under assault during President-elect Donald Trump's administration according to Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh.
Suh has emerged as one of the strongest critics of Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
One of the nation's leading environmental advocacy groups whose stated mission is "to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild," the NRDC announced last week their participation in Saturday's Women's March on Washington. The march is expected to draw historic crowds as protestors unify around principles like civil rights and environmental justice in the wake of Trump's Friday inauguration.
Suh and the NRDC have been on the offensive against Pruitt and other Trump Cabinet picks, warning of dangers climate change skepticism and ties to big oil could pose. In addition to a "#CabinetOfPolluters" campaign, the two-year NRDC lead penned a blog post for the NRDC on Tuesday calling Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt "the worst nominee ever tapped to lead the U.S Environmental Protection Agency."
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In a recent post, Suh notes that Pruitt "has taken more than $300,000―and counting―in political donations from big oil, gas, and coal companies."
She also has called out the former Oklahoma attorney general for suing the EPA 13 times, arguing the lawsuits prove Pruitt is one of Trump's "cast of characters that have time and time again put polluter profits ahead of public interest."
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"This is not a man that you want in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency," Suh told AOL News. "This is someone who has made a career out of undermining it."
A former member of the Obama administration in the department of the interior, she warns America could see a "complete undoing" of Obama administration's legacy fueled by what she calls a "radical ideology" of Trump cabinet picks.
Hear Suh explain exactly why the NRDC is so worried about Pruitt and a Trump presidency:
"There's really not a single environmental law or standard that Donald Trump hasn't singled out as one that he wants to overturn," Suh says. "So it really is the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act -- all of the fabric that [...] maintains our quality of life and standard of living."
Suh says she will be marching with her colleagues at NRDC "in unity" during Saturday's Women's March to "defend the hard-fought battles that have been won over the course of 45 years."
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If the NRDC is to see success in their advocacy, they will likely need to extend their message to moderates with what Suh calls "heartland" values -- in other words, something with pretty clear bi-partisan support that extends beyond party lines. Where many see environmental advocacy as a blue, liberal, "tree hugger" issue, Suh says it's the NRDC's job to "go to the American public" and explain these issues as related to the common American experience.
"Forget the language of the acronyms and crazy politics of Washington DC, let's about what it means to go to your tap, drink a glass of water, and know that it won't poison you," Suh Says. "Because that's what's at stake."
