The EPA's Scott Pruitt ignores the new U.S. climate science report
On Nov. 3, the Trump administration issued the most up-to-date and thoroughly peer-reviewed climate science assessment produced for the United States. It found that, contrary to the Trump administration's assertions and policy actions, global warming is real, caused by human activities, and is having myriad impacts on the way we live right now.
On Nov. 8, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, said what most observers figured he'd say -- the report's findings make no difference in his dogged effort to dismantle climate regulations.
In an interview with USA Today, Pruitt said the climate report will not stop his agency from moving forward with dismantling the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which was designed to cut global warming pollutants from coal-burning power plants. These are Pruitt's first public comments since the National Climate Assessment was released.
SEE ALSO:Major federal climate report rebuts everything Trump administration has said about climate change"We’re taking the very necessary step to evaluate our authority under the Clean Air Act and we’ll take steps that are required to issue a subsequent rule. That’s our focus," Pruitt said.
"Does this report have any bearing on that? No it doesn’t. It doesn’t impact the withdrawal and it doesn’t impact the replacement," he said.
Global average surface temperature change since 1880.Credit: Fourth national climate assessment.The EPA under Pruitt has placed dismantling environmental regulations atop its agenda, be they rules focused on climate change, hazardous chemicals, or coal mining, among others.
This agenda diverges from the implications found in the National Climate Assessment, which is a congressionally-mandated report that found that there is no plausible explanation for global warming other than human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
According to the report, global annually averaged surface air temperatures have increased by about 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, during the past 115 years.
"This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization," the report states.
In his interview with USA Today, Pruitt cast the assessment's findings as part of a broader debate over the causes and consequences of global warming, rather than an authoritative and conclusive document.
He has gone so far as to propose and plan a series of televised climate science debates between climate deniers and mainstream climate scientists, known as a "red team, blue team exercise," which could take place as soon as early next year.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, left, shakes hands with coal miners on April 13, 2017.Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock"Obviously the climate is changing and has always changed, (and) humans contribute to that. Measuring with exact precision is very challenging," Pruitt said. "So I think the report (is) good to encourage an open dialogue on this."
However, portraying the report as part of an open dialogue, particularly on the central question of how significantly human activities are contributing to global warming, ignores the assessment's top level findings.
In fact, the report directly contradicted what Pruitt said.
The report states (original emphasis included):
"This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century."
"For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence."
Leading causes of modern-day climate change.Credit: Fourth National Climate AssessmentThe report even quantified exactly how much of the warming since 1951 is due to human activities -- at least 93 percent.
To Pruitt, and other members of the Trump administration, though, the new climate assessment might as well have been tossed in the trash can. Yes, the administration let it be published, but they aren't going to use it to guide their policy decisions.
At the EPA, the document might as well remain locked up forever in Pruitt's $25,000 soundproof phone booth.
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