February 17 – The U.S. Senate today approved Scott Pruitt as the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt, formerly the Attorney General of Oklahoma, denies the scientific reality of climate change. He says it is a “hoax”. He has been obsessed with oil and coal production at any cost to the environment, and in particular has promoted the disastrous practice of “fracking” to extract oil. This has been calamitous for Oklahoma. In a state where significant earthquakes were uncommon, fracking has led to a situation where one Native American reservation suffered 816 in one year. Pruitt is a Christian Fascist who has cohered a movement of other fascist state officials to challenge any federal environmental protection under the banner of “state’s rights”. Now he is in charge of environmental destruction – called environmental “protection” in the twisted language of Trumpworld. Pruitt, and the entire Trump regime, are menaces to humanity and the planet.
