Trump EPA Chief Leans On His Fossil Fuel Ties In Senate Run

Trump’s former EPA chief is raising campaign cash from his fossil fuel industry consulting clients.

By Donald Shaw, Sludge

Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt resigned in June 2018 amid a cloud of ethics scandals, seemingly too corrupt even for the Trump administration. Now he is attempting to regain a position in the government — despite the fact that he has continued to make questionable moves on behalf of the oil and gas industry since leaving his post.

In late April, Pruitt filed paperwork to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Oklahoma to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe. Pruitt is now running in the June 28 Oklahoma Senate Republican primary election against multiple candidates, including Rep. Markwayne Mullin and the Inhofe-endorsed Luke Holland, a former staffer for the senator.

The seat is considered solidly Republican, so whichever candidate emerges from the primary will very likely end up with a six-year term in the Senate.