Top Republicans are shifting the climate change debate away from the human role and toward a more pragmatic discussion over what government can do about it — but it’s increasingly clear that President Trump, not his Cabinet nor lawmakers, will be setting the environmental agenda.
Mr. Trump, now the nation’s foremost climate change skeptic, seems to be at odds with three of his key Cabinet nominees on the science of global warming. Despite that, his past statements calling climate change a hoax and his administration’s crackdown this week on federal agencies that have highlighted the issue on social media in recent days underscore how the White House will control the message and the policy on the issue.
While Cabinet nominees such as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Rep. Ryan Zinke — the proposed heads of the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, respectively — told Senate panels last week that they believe climate change is real and that human activity has helped cause it, analysts say their opinions matter little.
“They can influence, they can put the arguments forward, they can try and give [Mr. Trump] counsel. But at the end of the day, it’s up to him. They weren’t elected. He was,” said Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor and head of the EPA under former President George W. Bush. “At the end of the day, it’s what the president wants.”
In 2012 and 2013, Mr. Trump called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, and he continued casting doubt on the concept of global warming throughout his presidential campaign.
His administration has kept up that approach during its first few days, ordering officials at the Badlands National Park to delete a series of tweets Tuesday that repeated scientific facts related to climate change. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said some of the offending tweets have been taken down for violating the agencies’ own social media policies, but reports say the National Park Service and other agencies have been told not to tweet about the global warming issue.
Mr. Trump also scrubbed any mention of the phrase “climate change” from the WhiteHouse.gov website, though it is still featured prominently on the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency webpages.
Mr. Trump’s nominees have taken much more moderate positions as they try to secure confirmation from the Senate, acknowledging the seriousness of climate change but challenging the approach of environmental activists. Mr. Perry told lawmakers last week that he believes humans have contributed to climate change.
“I believe the climate is changing. I believe some of it is naturally occurring, but some of it is also caused by man-made activity,” Mr. Perry said. “The question is, ’How do we address it in a thoughtful way that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affordability of energy, or American jobs?’”
Mr. Zinke and Mr. Pruitt gave similar responses to Senate panels last week.
“The climate is changing. That’s indisputable,” Mr. Zinke said. “Man has had an influence. I think that’s indisputable as well. Climate is changing, man has influenced [it]. I think where there’s debate on it is what that influence is and what we can do about it.”
Balanced approach
Other prominent Republicans also are conceding that climate change is real, but, like Mr. Perry and Mr. Zinke, are focusing on what the government can do about it without compromising economic growth.
Sen. James M. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who drew ridicule from environmentalists two years ago when he brought a snowball to the Senate floor in an attempt to disprove global warming, said there is no debate that the climate is changing.
But he argued that the simple existence of climate change is no justification for harsh government crackdowns on greenhouse gas emissions that could harm the economy. Mr. Trump has vowed to roll back crackdowns imposed by the Obama administration.
“The hoax is not whether or not the climate is changing. Of course the climate is changing, all the evidence is there, and the climate has and always will be changing,” the senator told The Washington Times. “What is not entirely settled is that the world is, as the left likes to say, ’coming to an end’ because of man-made gases.”
Mr. Trump has said he wants the EPA and other federal agencies to focus more on protecting the nation’s air, land and water than leading a global effort to fight climate change. He also has met with top climate change activists such as former Vice President Al Gore, raising questions about whether Mr. Trump may keep in place some Obama-era policies, such as U.S. participation in the landmark Paris climate agreement.
The White House did not respond to a request seeking clarification on whether Mr. Trump still believes climate change is a hoax.
Moving forward, analysts say, Republicans, including Mr. Trump, would be wise to follow the examples set by Mr. Perry and other nominees.
“I see where we’ve been. When we’re having this denier-hoax debate, we’re not getting at the core issue: What can we do about climate change? And that’s a question where there are a lot of different opinions,” said Frank Maisano, a communications specialist at Washington’s Bracewell LLP law firm who has represented both oil and gas companies and the renewable energy sector. “This kind of communication, where you talk about climate change as something that’s an issue you have to deal with but what to do about it becomes a bigger question, that’s where we want to focus. Once you get into that game, you’re on a much more level playing field.”
Environmentalists say any moderation by Republicans isn’t nearly enough.
“This is the same tactic the tobacco industry used for decades to block action to protect our people from the dangers of smoking: Concede what scientists have been saying for decades, then falsely suggest we don’t know enough to do anything about it,” said Bob Deans, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We know what’s driving climate chaos, we know what we must do to protect future generations and we’re making real progress. It’s time to build on those gains, not try to reverse them.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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