February 16, 2017

Duckworth Criticizes EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt’s Opposition to American-made Renewable Energy Programs Like RFS

 

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth joined several of her Senate colleagues today to outline her opposition to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee Scott Pruitt. Duckworth highlighted Pruitt's numerous conflicts of interest, and his refusal to commit to protecting the Renewable Fuel Standard, which helps decrease our nation's reliance on foreign oil by encouraging the use of home-grown fuel sources like biofuels, including corn-based ethanol, in gasoline.

"As someone who fought to defend this nation, I've seen firsthand the price we pay for our dangerous dependence on oil imported from our adversaries," said Senator Duckworth. "I amincredibly concernedabout what will happen to policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard under a Scott Pruitt-led EPA. I've already been to a war fought over oil,and I would rather run my car on American-grown corn and soybeans than oil from the Middle East. I am deeply disappointed that this President, after he came out to the Midwest and promised farmers that he would commit to the RFS, would actually nominate a man who spent his entire career fighting to defeat the RFS."

Senator Duckworth has been a vocal supporter of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which supports a $5 billion biofuel industry in Illinois that employs more than 4,000 people, and she joined corn farmers across Illinois in urging the EPA to adopt higher ethanol-based fuel requirements. Duckworth grilled Pruitt at his committee hearing over his past opposition to RFS, which is available here and here, and today, she joined a group of 30 Senators in calling on Pruitt to recuse himself from any of the issues and regulations he has previously sued the EPA over during his time as Oklahoma Attorney General.

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