As I write, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee is in lunch recess. Shortly before recess, committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the Cornwall Alliance’s open letter supporting Pruitt into the record:

I’d like to submit to the record as well, having heard that some of  my Democratic colleagues have concerns that Attorney General Pruitt is not open to the finding of science, especially as it relates to climate change, this is not so.

I’d like to call the committee’s attention to a letter by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. The letter is signed by 130 scientists, economists, legal scholars, policy experts, religious leaders, and over 230 other citizens, urging Attorney General Pruitt’s confirmation. The group includes David Legates, who is a Ph.D. in climatology, professor of climatology and geography at the University of Delaware.

The author praises Pruitt, stating, “Mr. Pruitt has also demonstrated understanding of and open-mindedness toward scientific insights crucial to the formulation and implementation of environmental regulation.”

The organization’s founder and national spokesman, Calvin Beisner, is quoted in the press release announcing the letter as saying the following: “Some environmental activists are determined to prevent Mr. Pruitt’s confirmation, painting him as a science denier or a climate change denier.” Mr. Beisner continues: “He is neither. He is a common-sense attorney general who will bring much-needed reform to the EPA.”

Without objection the letter will be submitted for the record.

You can view the whole hearing, recorded by C-SPAN, here. The quoted section begins at 2:23:46, or you can watch it below.