Sierra Club: Clark Is Unfit to Lead Department of Justice’s Environmental, Natural Resources Division

ST. PAUL, Minn., June 28 -- The Sierra Club issued the following news release:

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for Jeffrey Bossert Clark, an attorney with the law firm that represented BP during the litigation following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, to be assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). If confirmed, Clark would lead DOJ's enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.

Clark is a prominent denier of climate change, frequently critiquing greenhouse gas regulations and the Clean Power Plan, which aimed to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and has played a key role in litigation over the DOJ's finding that emissions endanger public health and welfare. Clark was prominently involved in industry challenges to the EPA's "endangerment finding" that set the scientific basis for all subsequent attempts to regulate greenhouse gases, including from autos and industrial sources.

In response, Sierra Club Legal Director Pat Gallagher released the following statement:

"Trump's nomination of Jeffrey Bossert Clark continues this administration's theme of nominating nominees who have a long history of being hostile to the very agencies they have been appointed to lead. A (career long) outspoken opponent of environmental and public health protection is the exact opposite of who we need leading our Department of Justice's Environmental and Natural Resources Division. From his role protecting BP after the Gulf oil spill, to his denial of climate change, to his opposition against the Clean Power Plan, to his view that pollution doesn't endanger public health and welfare, it is clear Clark can't be trusted to defend and enforce the laws that protect our communities. The Sierra Club is committed to fighting for our families, our communities, and our environment, and we urge the Senate to oppose this unjust, dangerous and destructive nomination."