The Boys from Tulsa/Weekend Reader for Sunday, April 29

The Boys from Tulsa/Weekend Reader for Sunday, April 29

A trio of regulation-hatin', climate-denyin' desperadoes from Tulsa are taking Washington by storm. What's in the water down there?

It is said that things come in threes. In the case of Senator James Inhofe, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and newly-confirmed NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, it may be true of people, too.


All three cut their political teeth in the city of Tulsa. Now, with Inhofe four decades into a national anti-environmental career for the ages; Pruitt trying to outdo him in little more than a year, and Bridenstine quitting Congress to oversee NASA's space and earth science, a less-than-grateful environmental community says, "Thanks, Tulsa."

"Tulsa used to be a vibrant, progressive city," laments lifelong Tulsan Barbara Vanhanken, who represents Eastern Oklahoma in the state's 4,300-member Sierra Club chapter. But she acknowledges that Tulsa's 400,000 residents have always been loyal to the oil and gas industry, as the name of its minor league baseball team, the Drillers, suggests.

The state's Sierra Club Director, Johnson Bridgwater, goes a bit farther, saying the state's politics are the province of "oil and gas billionaires." He credits Pruitt's and Bridenstine's recent emergences in Washington – and Inhofe's longevity – to the state's petro-patrons.

No one in Oklahoma's seven-member congressional delegation, all Republicans, managed better than a 9 percent on the 2017 scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters (Bridenstine was at 3 percent, and Inhofe drew a zero).

It wasn't always the case with Oklahoma leaders. Carl Albert was a Congressional icon who championed Medicare and other programs that are now part of a bitter ideological struggle. His six years as Speaker of the House spanned the fall of South Vietnam and the downfall of Richard Nixon. An iconoclastic liberal Oklahoma Senator, Fred Harris, launched a quixotic 1972 presidential run with the slogan "No More Bull Shit" (really).

Mike Synar, an eight-term Congressman from Muskogee, made pesticide safety his signature issue, championing efforts to forbid pesticides banned for use in the U.S. from being exported for use in other countries.

Synar was voted out in 1994, shortly before dying of a brain tumor.

More affable than angry in his style, Inhofe is a vigorous octogenarian who, if he chooses, is up for re-election in 2020. He would turn 86 less than two weeks after election day.

His family left Iowa for Tulsa when Inhofe was young. He attended Tulsa schools, spent two years in the Army, and returned home to launch a 30 year career in real estate and insurance, concurrently serving as a state representative, senator, and ultimately three-term mayor of Tulsa. He quit the private sector and was elected to the first of four terms as Tulsa's Congressman in 1987.

Inhofe rose to the U.S. Senate via a special election in 1994 and quickly became a standard-bearer for conservative causes – fighting against marriage equality, gun control, entitlement programs, and most famously of all, climate science. He called climate change the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." James Mountain Inhofe is the undisputed alpha dog of climate denial in the U.S. government.

Inhofe ran the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for six years. Aided by staffer Marc Morano, Inhofe became a virtuoso in climate snark. Morano left the Senate staff in 2009 for a private sector career as the P.T. Barnum of climate denial. Inhofe built an igloo on the Capitol grounds in 2010 and tossed a snowball at the Senate's presiding officer in 2014.

On more than one occasion, Inhofe has referred to Scott Pruitt as one of his best friends in politics. Other observers see Inhofe as Pruitt's mentor and political sponsor.

Pruitt left his native Kentucky to attend law school at the University of Tulsa, and stayed on after passing the bar. For five years, his private practice specialized in defending religious freedom. Pruitt traced Inhofe's steps through the Oklahoma State Senate, representing the Tulsa area for eight years starting at age 30 in 1998.

Pruitt waged unsuccessful runs for Congress and Lieutenant Governor, but in 2010, he won the race for state Attorney General, quickly establishing a reputation as the federal EPA's most aggressive foe. He also led a curious investigation of the Humane Society of the United States after the animal protection group focused on conditions on factory farms and ranches in the state. Pruitt's AG office quietly dropped the investigation two years later when HSUS sued the state, alleging harassment.

Narrowly approved by the U.S. Senate in February, 2017, Pruitt pressed ahead on parallel paths of science denial, clear-cutting EPA rules and enforcement actions, and apparently lavish spending on travel, security, and perks. Even Inhofe expressed concern about Pruitt's seeming lack of ethical boundaries.

Enter Jim Bridenstine. He endured a rough confirmation vote earlier this month. His across-the-board opposition to environmental regulation may not come into frequent play as NASA Administrator, but his stone-cold embrace of climate denial surely could. He has opined that "there is no credible scientific evidence that greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations, including carbon dioxide, affect global climate." As a Congressman, he is on the record as favoring NASA's exit from its central role in climate and other Earth science research.

While he's an accomplished pilot, Bridenstine has no science or space credentials. Managing NASA's $19 billion budget will also be a novel experience for him. His leadership of the Tulsa Air & Space Museum ended in a swirl of controversy in 2010, with accusations of mismanagement and conflict of interest.

The Sierra Club's Bridgwater holds out hope that bright-red Oklahoma could produce another Mike Synar. While 4,300 members in a state of four million hardly makes the Sierra Club a political dynamo, he says it represents 36 percent growth since 2016.

Stranger things have happened.

Like Oklahoma becoming the nation's earthquake leader.

Top Weekend News

Our friends at FERN suggest a possible solution to foodborne e. coli outbreaks.

"The damn thing melted." A changing Arctic changes global security. (New Security Beat).

Coal ash is raising health concerns at Puerto Rico's only coal-burning power plant. (PBS NewsHour)

Jason Mark's cover story for Sierra Magazine: The case for climate reparations.

Opinions and Editorials

From The Revelator: The imperiled fossil record in the Bears Ears National Monument may hold valuable climate lessons.

On Public Radio International's Living On Earth, EHN's Peter Dykstra and Steve Curwood discuss NASA's newly-approved, climate-denying Administrator and more.

Rollbacks and ROTFL's from Trumpworld This Week

From Evan Halper at the LA Times: The Trump Administration and California are poised to collide over fuel efficiency standards.

Nice summary from Politico of EPA's Scott Pruitt in congressional testimony this week.

But wait, there's more! The EPA Inspector General opens new investigations into Pruitt's conduct. (Huff Post)

D'oh! Why it matters that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wore his National Park ranger hat backwards in a photo op.

Books on an outdoor bookshelf shaped like a house, with trees in background.
Credit: Gigi/Unsplash

Our annual summer reading list, 2025 edition

Happy 4th of July! Here's what our staff is reading this summer.

Welcome to summer, everyone! Each 4th of July, our staff share a memorable book that they’ve recently read, and this year, like every year, has produced an eclectic, thought-provoking mix. We hope our picks inspire some new additions to your own lists.

Keep reading...Show less
Silhouette of a person on a hill in front of a setting sun.

Major climate change reports vanish from US federal websites, raising transparency concerns

Federal climate reports that help communities plan for extreme weather and rising seas have quietly disappeared from public websites, with little explanation from the Trump administration.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
a scale with the words Truth/Facts and fake news on it

UN official calls for criminal penalties for fossil fuel disinformation and lobbying bans

The United Nations’ top climate and human rights expert urged governments to criminalize fossil fuel disinformation, ban industry lobbying and ads, and phase out oil, gas, and coal by 2030 to meet their legal obligations under international law.

Nina Lakhani reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
A ship near an iceberg.

EPA staffer’s offhand remark on climate funds fuels political firestorm after secret video sting

A midlevel U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee was secretly recorded on a Tinder date by a Project Veritas operative, triggering political attacks and agency rollbacks based on a misrepresented comment about clean energy funding.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
silver and black electric oscillating fan in close up photography.
Credit: Roy Muz/Unsplash

Coal use drives sharp rise in U.S. power plant emissions amid summer heat

U.S. power plant emissions have surged to a three-year high, driven by a spike in coal use as utilities scramble to meet rising electricity demand during record summer heat and elevated natural gas prices.

Gavin Maguire reports for Reuters.

Keep reading...Show less
building with vegetation wall.

Cities are quietly outpacing nations in climate progress

Cities worldwide are cutting emissions, greening streets, and adapting to climate threats faster than national governments, according to a new international report.

Matt Simon reports for Grist.

Keep reading...Show less
a herd of cows standing next to each other in a barn, confined in individual metal stalls.

California residents challenge methane policy they say pollutes under the guise of clean energy

Residents in California’s Central Valley are pushing back against a state-backed program that incentivizes methane digesters at industrial dairies, arguing it locks in pollution and worsens environmental health in Latino communities.

Ray Levy Uyeda reports for Prism.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.