President Donald Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]. But who is Pruitt? Scott Pruitt is the Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma. Attorney General would seem to be the perfect qualification to have on a resume or even a job application. For many jobs and bosses it is, but for people who analyze public policy their standards for a White House job tends to be much different than normal employers.
According to the EPA government website, their mission is to set regulations to protect human health and the environment. The website also mentions the role that the United States plays in the global environment. These are just some of the roles that the EPA has towards American and foreign environmental policy. The common theme being the environment. The EPA’s role in the government or the job for the person who will run it should not, for this reason, be taken lightly. This is where the conflict becomes a bit more apparent. Previously, I spoke about Scott Pruitt being qualified on the resume. However, the tasks for this particular job call for something different.
According to NASA, more than 97% of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends are due to human activities. However, President Trump’s pick according to CBS, believes quite the opposite. He has been a long supporter of policies that increase the damage caused by climate change. This is problematic for the mere reason that if a certain consensus within the scientific community leans in one direction based on scientific evidence, and Mr. Pruitt as EPA administrator believes in something other than environmental impact on society; the results could be devastating because Mr. Pruitt will be the policy leader, not the scientific community.
His resume may indicate him to be qualified for the job but because of the importance of that role, having just a good resume is not enough. I make the claim here that what is equally important in a job like the EPA Administrator is the individual’s ideology. As the administrator, Mr. Pruitt will be on the table when discussing environmental issues with President Trump. Therefore, Mr. Pruitt needs to have a different mindset if he is to successfully do the job without causing any damage to society.
Much of this success is crucial to the American people. Some of the roles that the EPA would have like the one previously mentioned involves and impacts both human health and the environment. The EPA website makes the claim that the environmental risks are reduced to the best of their ability based on the scientific research. However, if a person like Mr. Pruitt does not agree with scientific evidence then the damage would be harmful not just to the American people but the earth as a whole.
The success of a White House member is not only determined based on their resume but their individual ideology as well. If Mr. Pruitt stays on the current track in regards to his beliefs, he will ultimately be ineffective as the EPA administrator and fail in the roles he may be given. Therefore, both Mr. Pruitt and President Donald Trump need to reconsider how they would like to run the EPA on the premise of facts which will ultimately lead to better policies.
