Guy
who defended BP after Gulf oil disaster now heads Justice Department’s
Environment Division
Democratic Sens. Joe
Manchin (W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) joined with Senate Republicans on
October 11 to confirm Jeffrey Bossert Clark—a climate-denying former attorney for the
fossil fuel industry—to lead the Justice Department's Environment and Natural
Resources Division.
"Clark's blatant
hostility toward environmental protection is good news for polluters, but awful
news for the rest of us," warned Environmental Working Group (EWG)
president Ken Cook.
"The guy who defended the company that caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history is not likely to aggressively go after corporate environmental outlaws."
"The guy who defended the company that caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history is not likely to aggressively go after corporate environmental outlaws."
The new assistant
attorney general's nomination has been stalled for more than a year due to
concerns about his history as a lawyer. Clark has represented B.P. in lawsuits that
stemmed from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce in suits attacking the U.S. government's authority to craft
regulations that aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In his new post, as E&E News reports, "Clark will lead the federal government's litigation positions in cases dealing with pollution control laws, public lands, natural resources, wildlife, and tribal issues." Jeffrey Wood—who worked for Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was a senator for Alabama—has been running the division during the lengthy confirmation process.
"[Clark] is a
favorite of the Federalist Society, having chaired that group's environmental
law and practice group. But his nomination is strongly opposed by groups that
care about protecting the environment," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.) told The Hill. "He is exactly
the wrong person to be in this job of enforcing regulations to protect our
environment."
Although Clark's
challenges to climate science and U.S. environmental regulations have raised
alarm among Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates, this won't be his
first time working in the division. During the George W. Bush administration,
Clark spent four years as the division's deputy assistant attorney
general, according to InsideClimate News.
Critics warn that
Clark will continue the Trump administration's pro-polluter agenda, which
has cast aside scientific research and public
health concerns to serve the the interests of the fossil fuel and chemical industries.
"Clark's
appointment is a doubling down on the administration's strategy of retreating
from the future and branding America as a petrostate while China steals our global energy, economic,
and moral leadership, and the rest of the world moves forward," concluded environmental attorney Robert
F. Kennedy Jr.