Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Scott Pruitt the “wrong person” to head the agency.
“He is, without any doubt, the wrong person at that place,” he told a crowd Thursday at the California state capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was referring to Pruitt, who is trying to reorient the EPA’s mission.
“He does not represent the people. He only represents the special interests. He should be removed immediately,” the former governor said. Schwarzenegger is a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and his dismissive attitude toward climate change.
Schwarzenegger made his remarks after accepting an award named for Dr. Arie J. Haagen-Smit, the first chair of the California Air Resources Board, which is responsible for the regulating the state’s pollution levels. The actor bemoaned the EPA’s policy shift under the Trump administration.
“Haagen-Smit was the man. Now, 50 years later, you have Trump appointing Pruitt to the EPA. What happened?” said Schwarzenegger, who claimed last year that he didn’t vote for Trump because of the former real estate mogul’s pro-coal power campaign position. “This is so sad.”
He supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential bid, in part, because of their mutual concerns related to global warming. Kasich, a Republican, repeatedly used his belief in climate change during the campaign to create a potential point of difference between himself and Trump, who once called climate change a “hoax” created by the Chinese.
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