President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, signaling Mr. Trump鈥檚 determination to dismantle President Obama鈥檚 efforts to counter climate change 鈥� and much of the E.P.A. itself.
Mr. Pruitt, a Republican, has been a key architect of the legal battle against Mr. Obama鈥檚 climate change policies, actions that fit with the president-elect鈥檚 comments during the campaign. Mr. Trump has criticized the established science of human-caused global warming as a hoax, vowed to 鈥渃ancel鈥� the Paris accord committing nearly every nation to taking action to fight climate change, and attacked Mr. Obama鈥檚 signature global warming policy, the Clean Power Plan, as a 鈥渨ar on coal.鈥�
Mr. Pruitt has been in lock step with those views. 鈥淪cientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind,鈥� he wrote in National Review earlier this year. 鈥淭hat debate should be encouraged 鈥� in classrooms, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime.鈥�
A meeting on Monday between the president-elect and former Vice President Al Gore may have given environmental activists a glimmer of hope that Mr. Trump was moderating his campaign stance. Mr. Trump told New York Times editors and reporters that he does 鈥渢hink there is some connectivity鈥� between human activity and a warming planet.
With the choice of Mr. Pruitt, that hope will have faded. 鈥淒uring the campaign, Mr. Trump regularly threatened to dismantle the E.P.A. and roll back many of the gains made to reduce Americans鈥� exposures to industrial pollution, and with Pruitt, the president-elect would make good on those threats,鈥� said Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research and advocacy organization.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,鈥� he added.
Mr. Pruitt, 48, is a hero to conservative activists, one of a group of Republican attorneys general who formed an alliance with some of the nation鈥檚 top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda. Fossil fuel interests greeted Mr. Trump鈥檚 selection with elation.
鈥淎ttorney General Scott Pruitt has long been a defender of states鈥� rights and a vocal opponent of the current administration鈥檚 overreaching E.P.A.,鈥� said Laura Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which works on behalf of the coal industry. 鈥淢r. Pruitt will be a significant voice of reason when it comes to energy and environmental regulations.鈥�
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