WASHINGTON (June 30, 2017)—U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who does not acknowledge the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is the primary cause of climate change, is leading an initiative to challenge mainstream climate research, according to news reports. The plan involves using a "back-and-forth critique" by experts recruited by the federal government, similar to the way the military identifies field operation vulnerabilities.
Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“No one should be fooled by Scott Pruitt’s reported proposal to launch a review of climate science. Climate science has undergone comprehensive and painstaking scientific peer review for decades. Since 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has worked with literally thousands of scientists worldwide to synthesize the most recent climate science findings for world leaders every five to seven years. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences delivered a comprehensive report on the topic in 2014. Mr. Pruitt knows this. The real purpose of Pruitt’s gambit is to lay the groundwork for EPA to overturn the finding it made in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger our health and safety. Mr. Pruitt tried to do this in court unsuccessfully when he was an attorney general in Oklahoma. He is now at it again. Why? Because under the Clean Air Act, he can’t erase climate change regulations without overturning this finding. That is what this is all about.”