Pruitt's past at issue during confirmation hearings

Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, is under scrutiny as he awaits Senate approval of his nomination to take his Cabinet position, where he will focus heavily on the country’s energy industry.

“The Oklahoma attorney general (Pruitt) is a relentless adversary of that agency and its regulations, and he has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry he would be charged with overseeing,” Inside Climate News said in an article posted on the Competitive Enterprise Institute website said.

Although Trump is pushing for Pruitt, many leaders on the opposite side are hoping he won’t take the seat, the article said. “Pruitt will face tough questions, mostly from Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the panel weighing his nomination ... on whether the fossil fuel industry's generous support for his political career would compromise his leadership of the EPA,” Inside Climate News said.

Scott, who has supported oil and gas production and coal-produced electricity, previously challenged President Barack Obama with his involvement in the United State’s energy sector. “He has been a party to at least 14 lawsuits challenging the EPA's authority to impose rules on oil and gas production, vehicles and coal-fired electricity, helping to lead the campaign against President Barack Obama's signature climate initiative, the Clean Power Plan,” the article said,