Skip to main content

Scott Pruitt Denies C02 Emissions Primary Cause of Climate Change

By Theodora Filis
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headed by Scott Pruitt, has denied the scientific claim that climate change is caused primarily by carbon dioxide emissions.

Pruitt said that to measure human activity on the climate is challenging and that because of the tremendous amount of speculation surrounding the impact humans have on climate change he would have to disagree that it's a primary contributor to global warming. He went on to say that the EPA needed to continue the debate, review, and analyze findings.
These comments have placed Pruitt in a difficult situation with the EPA. For more than a century, science has proven that CO2 traps heat. Scientists have concluded that atmospheric concentrations of the gas have increased by more than a third since the industrial revolution, driven by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

Gina McCarthy, Pruitt's predecessor, condemns his comments.

The EPA states on its website that carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change. This statement is backed by NASA, which calls CO2 the most important long-lived forcing of climate change.
A report, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, summarized the findings of 2,000 international scientists. The report claims that it is extremely likely that the steep rise in CO2, along with other greenhouse gasses such as methane, has caused most of the global warming experienced since the 1950's.
Gina McCarthy claims the world of science is about empirical evidence, not beliefs. That when it comes to climate change, the evidence is robust and overwhelmingly clear that the cost of inaction is unacceptably high. McCarthy said she can not imagine what additional information the administrator might want from scientists for him to understand that.

A core EPA function is the regulation of greenhouse gasses.

Prior to heading the EPA, Pruitt was the attorney general who sued the EPA in order to stop Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which imposes emissions limits on coal-fired power plants. Under the Trump administration, the Clean Power Plan is probably going to be cut. President Trump as called the EPA a disgrace and has said he would reduce it to tidbits in hopes of creating economic growth.

Pruitt is scheduled to review the EPA's role in vehicle emissions standards, methane emissions, and protection of America's waterways. Severe cuts are expected under the new White House budget proposal.

Comments