Nearly two dozen appointees in top jobs across the federal government do not acknowledge humans are the main cause of climate change or say there is significant uncertainty about how much they contribute to rising temperatures. Their views are in stark contrast to mainstream science, and they mean that the officials aren’t necessarily considering projections for the future as they work on energy policy, disaster planning, national security and other issues pervaded by climate change risks.
White House
Donald Trump, President
“... perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming.”
What they said: Trump has called global warming a hoax (and worse) created “by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” — claims with no grounding in scientific fact. During last month’s frigid weather he tweeted that “perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming.” He later told interviewer Piers Morgan that polar ice caps are “at a record level,” though NASA says Arctic sea ice is shrinking more than 13 percent a decade.
Why it matters: Trump has begun a wholesale unraveling of former President Barack Obama’s climate agenda, including ordering rewrites of major regulations that would limit carbon emissions, promoting greater production of fossil fuels like coal, and announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
White House
Mike Pence, Vice President
“follow the science” instead of “rushing into” restrictions on the economy
What they said: Pence acknowledged in a CNN interview in 2016 that human activities have “some impact on climate,” but said he and Trump want to “follow the science” instead of “rushing into” restrictions on the economy.
Why it matters: Pence often represents the United States on the foreign stage, where the U.S. is facing pushback from decisions to exit the Paris agreement and place tariffs on imports of solar power panels.
White House
Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
“...not yet convinced that it is a direct correlation between manmade activity and a change in the climate.”
What they said: Mulvaney acknowledges that climate change is real but said he is “not yet convinced that it is a direct correlation between manmade activity and a change in the climate.” He says his views on climate change shouldn’t change the way he does his job “analyzing the costs and benefits” of regulations and policies.
Why it matters: As the official in charge of writing Trump’s budget proposals, Mulvaney has sought to slash and zero-out a host of climate and green energy programs throughout the executive branch — including a proposed 26 percent budget cut for EPA — and has described climate research as “a waste of your money.” His office is also the gatekeeper for federal agencies’ regulations, giving him outsize power on climate actions across the executive branch.
Justice Department
Jeff Sessions, Attorney General
“[carbon dioxide] is plant food,” that “doesn’t harm anybody except that it might include temperature increases.”
What they said: In 2015, he described the carbon dioxide that causes climate change as “plant food” that “doesn’t harm anybody except that it might include temperature increases.”
Why it matters: His lawyers at the Justice Department have vast power over the fate of Obama’s regulations and Trump’s regulatory rollbacks. Already they have sought to delay court decisions while agencies repeal and rewrite Obama-era rules facing attack from industry. And they will have the task of defending Trump’s proposals against legal challenges filed by environmental groups and Democratic-leaning states.
Regulators
Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
“we know that humans have most flourished during times of what? warming trends”
What they said: Pruitt is the most vocal doubter of climate change science in the Trump administration. He has suggested man-made carbon dioxide emissions may not be a primary contributor to temperature rises and has said it’s difficult to measure human activity’s impacts on the climate “with precision.” He has even said global warming may be good for people, telling a Nevada television station that “we know that humans have most flourished during times of what? warming trends?”
Why it matters: He is using his control of EPA to roll back the federal government’s only major climate regulations, including the massive Obama-era greenhouse gas limits for power plants. He has forced scientists off the agency’s science advisory panels, replacing them with people from industry, and successfully lobbied Trump to exit the Paris climate accords. He is also going after climate research itself — he plans to launch a public debate about the soundness of the science, and aims to organize a team to criticize the evidence that humans are the dominant cause of rising temperatures.
Regulators
Bill Wehrum, EPA air chief
it’s an “open question” whether humans are the main cause of climate change
What they said: In his confirmation hearing in October, Wehrum acknowledged that “human activity contributes to climate change” but said it’s an “open question” whether it is the main cause.
Why it matters: His office will oversee the repeal of Obama’s climate standards for the power industry. It is working to replace them with narrow rules for coal plants that are unlikely to significantly reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
Regulators
Cathy Stepp, EPA Midwest Administrator
“I’ve read competing pieces so, yes, I would say there is debate out there ...”
What they said: She told the Wisconsin State Journal that she believes substantial scientific disagreement exists on the cause of climate change.
Why it matters: At EPA, Stepp is in charge of environmental protection in a region that runs mostly on coal plants. She formerly ran the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which under her leadership cut science funding and changed information on websites to suggest the cause of climate change is uncertain.
Regulators
Ryan Zinke, Interior Department Secretary
There’s debate on “what that influence is, what can we do about it.”
What they said: Zinke in his confirmation hearing acknowledged that “climate is changing” and “man has had an influence,” noting that glaciers are receding. But he said he believes there’s debate on “what that influence is, what can we do about it.” In 2015, Zinke told a Montana newspaper that President Barack Obama shouldn’t claim Hurricane Sandy was related to climate change because that is “not based on fact.”
Why it matters: The Interior Department manages a fifth of U.S. land, including 35,000 miles of coastline and 1.7 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf. Interior’s inspector general, an internal watchdog, says that means the department will faces significant impacts from climate change, including wildfires, water scarcity and harm to native tribes.
Regulators
Douglas Domenech, Interior’s assistant secretary for insular affairs
“[Fulfilling the pledge in the Paris agreement would] wreak havoc on the economy, jobs, and electricity rates — and, in the process, on the lives of millions of people.”
What they said: Domenech, who also headed the agency’s transition team, criticized “climate alarmists” in 2016 and said fulfilling Obama’s pledge in the Paris agreement would “wreak havoc on the economy, jobs, and electricity rates — and, in the process, on the lives of millions of people.” In his confirmation hearing, however, he said he agrees that “climate is changing and man has a role in that.”
Why it matters: Under a recent reorganization, Domenech’s portfolio includes insular affairs, international affairs and the department’s ocean, great lakes and coastal program. Climate change is causing sea-level rise and ocean acidification, which threaten U.S. oceans and coastal areas. Those trends are particularly troubling for the island territories Domenech oversees, including American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. His office administers also federal assistance to Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. He in charge of the agency’s foreign policy objectives abroad to help “sustainably manage natural resources.” In the Great Lakes, meanwhile, rising temperatures are threatening lower water levels, as well as more intense algal blooms and problems for fish and wildlife.
Regulators
Steven Gardner, nominee to head Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
“Climate Change is real. It always has been. It's not new!”
What they said: “Climate Change is real. It always has been. It’s not new!” he wrote on Facebook, according to E&E News.
Why it matters: Gardner would be the nation’s top coal mining regulator. He has said coal workers are “unfairly profiled as polluters” and defends the controversial practice of “mountaintop removal” mining, which the Obama administration sought to regulate under a rule that Trump blocked.
Regulators
Sonny Perdue, Agriculture Secretary
“[liberals have] lost all credibility”
What they said: Perdue has said “scientists on both sides” have views about whether humans contribute to climate change. “Frankly, from my perspective it doesn’t matter whether I think that or not,” he told The Wall Street Journal. Perdue has also expressed frustration when people link damaging weather to climate change, saying liberals have “lost all credibility” on climate science.
Why it matters: As global temperatures rise, droughts have become more intense and longer-lasting, and rainfall patterns are changing — which puts the Agriculture Department on the front lines as farmers must adapt to new crop behaviors. While Perdue hasn’t abolished USDA’s climate change program office, department staffers have directed employees to avoid making direct references to climate change, preferring terms like “weather extremes,” according to The Guardian. A spokesman has said, however, that this order didn’t come from higher-ups in the Trump administration.
Regulators
Rick Perry, Energy Secretary
the “science is out”
What they said: Perry has contended that the “science is out” on whether humans are the dominant cause of climate change.
Why it matters: Perry has unsuccessfully pushed federal regulators to subsidize money-losing coal plants. He has also restructured the Energy Department to focus more on basic R&D and less on commercial deployment of advanced energy technologies that could help cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Regulators
Dan Brouillette, Deputy Energy Secretary
“the question is how we address it in a thoughtful way that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affordability of energy, or American jobs.”
What they said: “I believe the climate is changing. Some of it is naturally occurring, but we are all living here so we must have some impact,” Brouillette said in response to questions from senators ahead of his confirmation. He added that “the question is how we address it in a thoughtful way that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affordability of energy, or American jobs.”
Why it matters: Brouillette will help determine how the agency assigns taxpayer dollars to support various energy technologies, including picking between bolstering research into fossil fuels or renewable and nuclear power.
Regulators
Bruce Walker, assistant energy secretary for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
“I think there is a contribution from man. I couldn’t quantify exactly what that is.”
What they said: Asked about climate change during his September confirmation hearing, Walker said: “I believe the climate has been changing and will continue to change as long as we’re on the planet. I think there is a contribution from man. I couldn’t quantify exactly what that is.”
Why it matters: Walker’s office is tasked with helping ensure that the U.S. energy system is “secure resilient and reliable” and “drives electric grid modernization and resiliency in the energy infrastructure,” according to its website. He has a say in how federal dollars are devoted to research and infrastructure as the nation’s grid shifts away from coal and toward lower-carbon natural gas and renewable power. His department also coordinates response efforts to weather that affects the electric grid.
Regulators
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, nominee for assistant transportation secretary for research and technology
“Over the past 15 years, despite increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the warming by some measures has stopped.”
What they said: She said in 2015 that “the Earth has been warming and cooling for millennia, certainly before the Industrial Revolution. … Over the past 15 years, despite increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the warming by some measures has stopped.” In fact, 2017 was the second-warmest year on record since 1880, according to NASA.
Why it matters: Transportation is the biggest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. Limiting transportation’s effects on climate change was a key focus of Furchtgott-Roth’s office under the Obama administration.
National security
Mike Pompeo, CIA Director
“There’s some who think we’re warming, there’s some who think we’re cooling, there’s some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment.”
What they said: Is the Earth even warming at all? Pompeo expressed uncertainty on that point in 2013, saying on C-SPAN that “there are scientists that think lots of different things about climate change. There’s some who think we’re warming, there’s some who think we’re cooling, there’s some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment.”
Why it matters: A 2014 Pentagon report found that climate change is an immediate threat to national security because it increases the risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. “The impacts of climate change may cause instability in other countries by impairing access to food and water, damaging infrastructure, spreading disease, uprooting and displacing large numbers of people, compelling mass migration, interrupting commercial activity, or restricting electricity availability,” the Pentagon wrote. “These developments could undermine already-fragile governments that are unable to respond effectively or challenge currently-stable governments, as well as increasing competition and tension between countries vying for limited resources.” Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both acknowledged climate change as security risk, but Trump’s Pentagon excluded the issue from the 2018 National Defense Strategy.
National security
Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary
“I can’t unequivocally state it’s caused by humans...There are many contributions to it.”
What they said: Nielsen says climate change is happening but has not acknowledged that humans are the main cause, as the government’s own scientists have concluded. “I can’t unequivocally state it’s caused by humans,” she said during her confirmation hearing in November. “There are many contributions to it.”
Why it matters: DHS’s Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to hurricanes and other natural disasters, which scientists expect to become harsher as temperatures rise. FEMA also examines risks to determine where and how Americans can rebuild their homes after storms along the coasts, where sea-level increases make flooding more likely. At the Coast Guard — another arm of DHS — Obama’s military advisers described climate change as a national security issue.
National security
Tom Bossert, White House Homeland Security Adviser
“ [The administration does] continue to take seriously the climate change — not the cause of it, but the things we observe.”
What they said: He hedged on the science after last year’s historic hurricanes battered Houston, saying that the administration does “continue to take seriously the climate change — not the cause of it, but the things we observe.” He declined to say whether the hurricanes were made worse because of rising temperatures.
Why it matters: Homeland Security officials will be responsible for responding to more intense storms and flooding, as well as wildfires and other large-scale disasters that could strain federal resources. For example, two research groups have concluded that the rainfall brought by Hurricane Harvey was much higher than it would have been without global warming.
Housing
Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary
“I know there are a lot of people who say ‘overwhelming science,’ but then when you ask them to show the overwhelming science they never can show it.”
What they said: “I know there are a lot of people who say ‘overwhelming science,’ but then when you ask them to show the overwhelming science they never can show it,” Carson told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015.
Why it matters: HUD tells states how to spend disaster recovery money allotted by Congress. Trump last year rescinded an executive order requiring federally funded projects to consider higher flooding risks caused by climate change, but HUD recently required that structures built in floodplains be built above projected flood levels anyway.
Business
Linda McMahon, Small Business Administration head
“I just don’t think we have the answers as to why it changes… I’m not a scientist, so I couldn’t pretend to understand all the reasons.”
What they said: “I just don’t think we have the answers as to why it changes… I’m not a scientist, so I couldn’t pretend to understand all the reasons. But the bottom line is we really don’t know,” McMahon said in 2010.
Why it matters: McMahon has said she wants to strengthen disaster relief for small businesses, citing SBA’s slow response after hurricanes. During the Obama administration, SBA sought to help small businesses become more resilient to climate change risks.
Education
Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary
“Certainly, the climate changes.”
What they said: DeVos applauded the president’s plans to exit the Paris climate deal, and she has declined to acknowledge that humans are the main cause of climate change. “Certainly, the climate changes,” she told reporters in June.
Why it matters: The Education Department has limited influence over whether climate science is taught in public schools — states have autonomy over curriculum. But DeVos supports federally funded vouchers for students to attend private schools, which can choose to deny climate change.
Science
Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator nominee
“I believe carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. I believe that humans have contributed to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”
What they said: The Republican Oklahoma congressman said in his November confirmation hearing that he accepts that humans are a cause of climate change — but he would not acknowledge that they are the main contributor. “I believe carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. I believe that humans have contributed to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he said. Asked whether humans are the primary cause, he said: “that is a question that I do not have an answer to.” He has criticized Obama for spending more on climate research than on tornado warning systems, and has claimed that global temperature changes are linked to sun output and ocean cycles.
Why it matters: NASA studies Earth science and is responsible for satellites that monitor climate, programs that researchers fear are imperiled under Trump. NASA says unequivocally on its websites and in its scientific reports that most scientists agree humans are the main cause of the current global warming trend.
Diplomacy
Kelly Craft, Ambassador to Canada
“I think that both sides have their own results, from their studies.”
What they said: Craft made headlines last year by saying she appreciates and respects “both sides of the science” on climate change, adding: “I think that both sides have their own results, from their studies.”
Why it matters: Canada and the United Kingdom are leading an international effort to phase out coal plants that don’t capture their carbon emissions, a policy wildly at odds with the Trump administration’s. Craft’s stance could complicate her work in the country.