EPA administrator Pruitt resigns

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, above, resigned from his position in the Trump administration. Photo by Gage Skidmore on Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned from his position, as announced by President Trump on Twitter.

“I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,” Trump tweeted. “Within the agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”

Andrew Wheeler will serve as acting EPA administrator.

In his resignation letter to President Trump, Pruitt noted “the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us,” as reasons for his resignation. Pruitt’s departure comes just 17 months after his confirmation to head the EPA in February 2017.

Pruitt’s resignation also comes following accusations of improper ethics, including the EPA’s chief ethics officer calling for investigations into Pruitt’s on-the-job behavior.