A man who gained nationwide celebrity status after asking a simple question during the presidential debate came out as a liberal environmentalist opposed to President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief.
Ken Bone, the sweater-vest-wearing media sensation who asked a question about energy policy during a presidential debate in October, outed himself Sunday as a critic of Trump’s energy policies, especially his decision to choose Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA.
“If we lose four years to someone who doesn’t seem to believe that that is a real issue, that could put us in real trouble,” Bone told Platts Capitol Crude podcast. He was referring to the former Oklahoma AG’s climate skepticism.
Bone, a coal-fired power plant operator, said he is of two minds on Trump’s energy policies. He is not opposed to the president’s coal policies, but he thinks the administration’s move to drastically reduce coal regulations could ultimately poison waterways and harm the environment.
“Right now, I think President Trump is doing the wrong things for the right reasons,” he said. “He’s removing some regulations in hopes it’s going to create jobs and I’m not entirely sure it’s going to work and I think it could have some negative consequences.”
Legislators passed resolutions earlier this year to eliminate the Obama administration’s so-called “Stream Protection Rule” on coal mine discharge into nearby streams.
Trump, who is expected to sign the resolutions into law, said in a previous statement the $1.2 billion stream rule “duplicates existing protections in the Clean Water Act and is unnecessary given the other Federal and State regulations already in place.”
Journalists scoured Bone’s commenting history on Reddit to find damning things to write about.
Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast, for one, highlighted comments Bone made before becoming a celebrity about hacked nude pictures of actress Jennifer Lawrence that surfaced online, in which Bone appears to admit to looking at the photos.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].