The role of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect the public’s right to a safe environment, which includes the air we breathe, water we depend upon and all of the environment related to our well-being.

President Donald Trump has nominated a man to lead the agency who has sued that agency 14 times in his role as a Republican official in Oklahoma. He has been a strong supporter of the oil and gas corporations and objected to the EPA’s imposed regulations on those industries.

Scott Pruitt has, in the past, denied the effects of human actions in the cause of climate change and has stated that he actually did not believe in climate change.

The state of Maine and the United States cannot afford the climactic results that will occur if Pruitt is allowed to take control of the EPA. The person to lead that agency should be someone whose primary concern is the public’s well-being.

Sen. Susan Collins, a supporter of Maine’s citizens, should not help to confirm Pruitt.

Nancy Gilbert, Durham