Co-written by Marc Yaggi and Gabrielle Segal
UPDATE: The White House withdrew its nominee Kathleen Hartnett White to head the Council on Environmental Quality on Sunday, February 4.
With the renomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, Trump is displaying, once again, that he prioritizes short-term profits over public health and the environment.
President Trump has renominated Kathleen Hartnett White, who failed to pass Senate approval at the end of 2017, to head the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Hartnett White is a climate change science skeptic who struggled to answer questions related to basic environmental science at her first confirmation hearing. She has proven her lack of understanding or care for established science on the environment and claims that there is much “propaganda” around the issue of climate change which has allowed for “regulatory overreach.” She relentlessly denies science even when all evidence is against her misinformed viewpoints. Perhaps most notable is that she staunchly defends the fossil fuel industry and argues carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a threat to the environment, despite the fact that research on CO2 continues to show that “as far as climate change goes, the gas that truly matters is carbon dioxide.” When she was first nominated by Trump, over 300 scientists wrote a letter to the Senate opposing her nomination, specifying the importance of “scientific integrity” and writing that “one thing more dangerous than climate change is lying.” Based purely on Hartnett White’s skepticism of environmental science, it is clear she is woefully unfit to serve as head of the CEQ, a position that requires knowledge and acceptance of established science.
President Trump’s Environmental nominee Kathleen Hartnett White was questioned by Rhode Island
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on climate change during her Senate hearing. Video by CasonVids.
The President’s Council on Environmental Quality was established in the early 1970s with the approval of President Richard Nixon to oversee implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Both the CEQ and NEPA have been vital in establishing regulations and policies that keep humans and the environment safe. In short, NEPA was enacted to ensure the welfare of humans and the Earth by encouraging “productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment,” promoting efforts to “prevent or eliminate damage” to the environment and biosphere, and by furthering our knowledge of the “ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation.”
In his State of the Union address, which he gave less than a month after the creation of the CEQ, Nixon declared: “Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions… It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they more than we will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later.” The CEQ is essential to the success of NEPA, which instructs federal agencies to assess “the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions.”
The CEQ’s first annual report from August of 1970 is considered by many to be a groundbreaking document in the creation of modern environmental policy. The report acknowledges that while scientists had yet to fully understand how exactly pollutants warmed or cooled the environment, it singled out carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The report points out that “pollution occurs when materials accumulate where they are not wanted,” so while carbon dioxide may not be harmful in small quantities, when it is concentrated in the wrong place in nature it is a dangerous pollutant. Rather than acknowledge that carbon dioxide can be harmful, Hartnett White continuously focuses on the fact that it is naturally occurring and called it a “plant nutrient” in her confirmation hearing. In a time where climate change is one of humanity’s greatest threats, it is frightening to think of such an ill-informed individual heading the department that, according to the White House website, is responsible for recommending “national policies to the President that promote improvement of the environmental quality and meet the Nation’s goals.”
Former leader of CEQ under the Obama administration, Christy Goldfuss, warns that Hartnett White “will more aggressively go after dismantling all environmental laws.” With the renomination of Hartnett White, Trump is displaying, once again, that he prioritizes short-term profits over public health and the environment. This is the opposite of why the CEQ was established and it is dangerous to have Hartnett White, a crusader for deregulation who has advocated for fossil fuel as a “moral case” (she wrote an entire book on it, entitled Fueling Freedom), aid the president on environmental regulations.
Some Senators have vowed to fight her nomination, but it is not too late to call your Senator at (866) 580-8532 and oppose Hartnett White’s renomination. Check Union of Concerned Scientists’ website for helpful talking points.
Feature image from www.epw.senate.gov