Pruitt: ‘This is a transformational time’

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt told a conservative gathering Friday that he and President Trump are overseeing policy changes that will be felt for decades.

“This is a transformational time. There are certain times in history that when you’re living in them you recognize that what’s happening is going to impact generations into the future,” Pruitt told the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road To Majority conference.

“This is reminiscent of the 1980s. This is reminiscent of when [former President Ronald] Reagan was in office saying that we can do better for the American people,” he continued.

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“We must embrace, we must advance, we must make change.”

The embattled EPA chief did not mention any of the numerous spending and ethics controversies centering on him over recent months.

But one protester hid heckle Pruitt near the beginning of his speech with a large bottle of lotion, mocking him over a Washington Post report that he had his taxpayer-funded security detail drive him to numerous Ritz Carlton hotels to find a specific lotion he wanted.

Instead, Pruitt boasted about his aggressive deregulatory agenda, including actions to roll back major Obama administration rules on climate change, water pollution and air pollution.

“These are examples of us choosing to make sure that regulatory authority, once again, is not used to pick winners and losers,” he said.

“This administration recognizes that private property ownership and the states matter, and that they care about air quality and water quality. And that we can advance this jobs agenda at the same time that we improve the environment by engaging in partnership, as opposed to adversity.”