My concerns grow with each new cabinet pick by president-elect Donald Trump — the questionable civil rights views of Jeff Sessions; the Wall Street and big banking connections of Steve Mnuchin; the financial links to Trump’s businesses of billionaire Wilber Ross; the questionable educational record of Betsy DeVos; and, most recently, the disturbing pick of Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA.

Pruitt has a long record of opposition to climate change strategies and, in the past, has sued the EPA to stop environmental protections. Also, the financial and political support he has received in the past from fossil fuel industries should give everyone pause. With his appointment, it is difficult not to fear for the advances the EPA has made in protecting the environment since its founding in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, or what may result from his well-documented questioning of scientific evidence of global warming.

When the time comes for Senate confirmation (or denial) of Trump’s choices, senators should closely examine the special interests (and abilities) his cabinet picks hold, and especially their demonstrated antagonism to many of the fundamental principles of the agencies they would lead.

Change is not necessarily bad, but to completely reverse the progress this country has made in these areas could prove to be disasters of the first order.

Richard Matthews, Phillips