Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), resigned on 5 July amid a series of ethical and spending scandals.

Pruitt — a former attorney general for Oklahoma who had repeatedly challenged EPA regulations in court — implemented an aggressive agenda to roll back health and environmental regulations after being confirmed as the EPA administrator by the US Senate in February 2017.

In particular, he sought to reverse a series of rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil and gas operations and other industries. Pruitt also triggered complaints from scientists and environmental groups when he changed how the agency approached scientific research. In some of his more controversial decisions, Pruitt banned scientists with EPA funding from serving on agency advisory boards and he proposed limits on the kinds of scientific research used to justify regulations.

Environmentalists applauded Pruitt’s resignation, but warned that efforts to dismantle health and environmental regulations are sure to continue under Andrew Wheeler, the EPA’s deputy administrator. The former coal lobbyist will be the agency’s acting administrator until the US Senate can confirm a new appointee.

“This is a big victory for public health and for the employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, but the fight isn’t done,” says Jeremy Symons, vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, an activist group based in New York.

US President Donald Trump confirmed that he had accepted Pruitt’s resignation in a tweet on 5 July. Trump made no mention of the controversies surrounding Pruitt, even though the former administrator is the subject of at least 13 federal inquiries for actions including using government employees for personal tasks, such as finding a job for his wife.

The EPA declined to comment on Pruitt's resignation.