In an outright rejection of established climate science this Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said that he doesn’t believe carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming.
“I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” he said during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“But we don’t know that yet,” he added. “We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis.”
Pruitt’s claim that “we don’t know yet” and that there’s a “tremendous amount of disagreement” is demonstrably false. It’s in direct contradiction of scientific consensus on climate change — a consensus that runs the gamut from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to NASA.
According to a report from NASA and the NOAA in January, earth’s average surface temperature “has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.”
From CNBC:
Democrats and environmentalists opposed Pruitt’s nomination to lead the EPA due to his close relationship with fossil fuel companies and his history of casting doubt on climate change. Conservatives and the energy industry have cheered his efforts to push back on what they view as over-regulation under Obama.
Explaining his position, Pruitt said that while he’s pro-environment, he’s also in favor of jobs and economic growth.
“This idea that if you’re pro-environment you’re anti-energy is just something we’ve got to change so that attitude is something we’re working on very much,” he said.
Pruitt’s comments went largely unchallenged by CBNC’s Joe Kernen, who basically allowed the head of one of the most important governmental science agencies to promote a science-denying conspiracy theory on national TV.
Watch the video below:
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