New Candidates Emerge for Trumps Top Environmental Adviser
Source: New York Times
New Candidates Emerge for Trump’s Top Environmental Adviser
By Lisa Friedman
Feb. 21, 2018
The Trump administration is considering a North Carolina regulator who questions mainstream climate science to be the next White House environmental adviser, just weeks after withdrawing a previous nominee who held similar views.
Donald van der Vaart, the former secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, said in a telephone interview that he had been in discussions with the White House for several positions in recent months, most recently to possibly lead the Council on Environmental Quality, which is responsible for coordinating federal environmental policy.
In the interview, Mr. van der Vaart expressed skepticism about the extent to which humans have contributed to climate change, a view that puts him at odds with scientific findings and echoes the views of other senior administration officials. He also expressed a willingness to challenge the legal foundation of federal climate-change policy, the 2009 Environmental Protection Agency decision known as the “endangerment finding,” which declares that greenhouse gases are harmful to human health and must be regulated.
“I’m not going to say ‘no,’” Mr. van der Vaart said when asked if he would support repealing the endangerment finding.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/climate/trump-environment-adviser-candidates.html
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