Report: Climate-change skeptic from Texas won’t head up environmental agency – By Loyd Brumfield (dallasmorningnews.com) / Feb 3 2018
Kathleen Hartnett White, a skeptic of climate change, will not lead the Council on Environmental Quality, The Washington Post reported.
The White House plans to withdraw White’s nomination to the federal agency, said the Post, citing anonymous sources.
White, a Texan who formerly served as the chairwoman of the state’s Commission of Environmental Quality, once said carbon dioxide wasn’t a pollutant and called the Endangered Species Act “antiquated” in a paper she wrote for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Democrats had stalled White’s nomination last year, but President Donald Trump renominated her earlier this year.
A Democratic senator was pleased that the White House would have to seek a new leader for the federal council.
“My colleagues in Congress know well that I am one of the first to reach across the aisle to find reasonable, principled compromises, but in this case, it was abundantly clear very early on that heading up the Council on Environmental Quality wasn’t the right job for Ms. White,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
“The nominee to lead the critical work of the White House Council on Environmental Quality must be a true leader — someone who can build alliances, work with Congress and be seen as an honest broker,” Carper said.
In testimony given to the Senate committee last year, White said humans probably contributed to warming trends, but “the extent to which, I think, is uncertain,” The Post reported.
Her statements contradicted a report put together by multiple government agencies that was released days earlier. It found “no convincing alternative explanation” other than human influence for changes in the earth’s climate, The Post reported.
Neither the White House nor White responded to requests for comments, the newspaper said.
PB/TK – The time honored tradition of blocking every candidate on personal belief continues. Is there a candidate out there that can leave their personal belief at the door?
