TAKE ACTION: Don't let this climate denier be the top environmental adviser

DON’T LET THE WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BECOME THE COUNCIL AGAINST RENEWABLE ENERGY

Among the long list of polluter-funded lobbyists President Trump has nominated to serve in the White House and in other positions across the federal government, one stands above the rest. Her name is Kathleen Hartnett White, and she’s been nominated to head the Council on Environmental Quality, where she would serve as the president’s top advisor on the environment. We can’t trust someone who has a history of siding with polluters to protect public health. Tell your senator to REJECT Kathleen Hartnett White’s nomination for chair of the White House CEQ. As chair of the CEQ, White would hold the highest environmental post in government. She would be charged with advising the president on the most important environmental issues facing our nation, as well as with oversight and implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process across the entire federal government. As an extreme climate-denier who has spent her entire career trying to undermine renewable energy and such commonsense safeguards for our environment and public health as the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and NEPA—the very laws the White House CEQ is responsible for assuring that federal agencies comply with—Kathleen Harnett White can’t be trusted to lead such a critical agency, not to mention an agency whose mission she so clearly does not believe in. The nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White is clearly an attempt to roll back nearly 50 years of environmental safeguards. It sends a signal that protecting the health of communities across the country is not a priority for this administration. If confirmed, she would bring a clear bias in favor of industry and would undermine implementation of the bedrock environmental laws that protect our nation’s clean air and water, wildlife, wildlands and public health. Tell your senators to REJECT Kathleen Hartnett White’s nomination. The health and safety of our communities are not negotiable. Everyone has the right to live, work, learn and play in communities where the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink. - Raul Garcia, Legislative Counsel, Earthjustice

Reject Kathleen Hartnett White, Trump's climate-denying pick to run the Council on Environmental Quality

The petition to the Senate reads: "Kathleen Hartnett White is a dangerous right-wing climate change denier who holds extreme, anti-science views. Block and resist her nomination to lead the Council on Environmental Quality." Add your name:

Kathleen Hartnett White isn't just your run-of-the-mill extreme right-wing climate-denier. She's a senior fellow at the Koch brothers and Exxon-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation, believes carbon dioxide is harmless "plant food," equates belief in climate change to "paganism," and calls solar and wind power "unreliable and parasitic."1,2If Donald Trump's long list of climate-denying nominees wasn't terrifying enough, his pick to lead the Council on Environmental Quality might be the most extreme and dangerous one yet. But her most egregious argument against climate change asserts that coal use in the 1800s actually ended slavery in the United States, saying "fossil fuels dissolved the economic justification for slavery."3 A person with such heinous, racist, climate-denying views has no business overseeing environmental policy in our country. We must speak out now to pressure the Senate to block and resist her confirmation before it comes up for a vote. Tell the Senate: Reject climate-denier Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality. Click here to sign the petition. The little-known Council on Environmental Quality plays a big role in the White House in directing environmental policy across agencies and implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, which oversees environmental permit applications. An extreme climate-denier leading this council could have an oversized and dangerous influence over permit applications for fossil fuel infrastructure projects, like dirty oil pipelines or coal and fracked natural gas export terminals. Remember this embarrassing moment? In her recent Senate confirmation hearing, Hartnett White struggled to hide her anti-science views and long-time contempt for climate science. When asked if she believed the climate was changing, she first replied "I am uncertain," then fumbled to correct herself. Later in the hearing, when progressive champion Sen. Jeff Merkley asked Hartnett White if she believed carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically, she replied with a sigh and said "no."4 Political pundits have said if Harnett White is confirmed it will be "a huge win for Steve Bannon," but activism resisting Trump's climate-denying nominees is working.5 After hundreds of thousands of progressives – including more than 170,000 CREDO members – took action, urging the Senate to reject Sam Clovis, Trump's racist, climate-denying pick to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientist, Clovis withdrew his nomination from consideration.6 We must speak out again in full force to block another dangerous nominee from setting foot in the Trump regime. Tell the Senate: Reject climate-denier Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/reject_hartnett_white?t=7&akid=26340%2E3130208%2E-dkBnk Josh Nelson, Deputy Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: Andrew Kaczynski, "Trump pick for top environmental post called belief in global warming a 'kind of paganism,'" CNN, Oct 18, 2017. Democracy Now!, "Climate Denier Kathleen Hartnett White Named White House Environmental Adviser," Oct. 16, 2017. Christopher Hooks, "Top TPPF Analyst: Coal Ended Slavery," Texas Observer, Sept. 30, 2014. Alexander C. Kaufman, "5 Times Trump’s Pick For Top Environmental Adviser Struggled To Defend Her Climate Denial," HuffPost, Nov. 8, 2017. Alexander C. Kaufman, "Trump’s Pick For White House Environmental Post Once Said Coal Helped End Slavery," HuffPost, Oct 13, 2017. Alexander C. Kaufman, "Trump’s USDA Pick With Ties To Russia Investigation Withdraws Nomination," HuffPost, Nov. 2, 2017.

Tell the Senate: Reject climate-denier Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality

The petition to the Senate reads: "Kathleen Hartnett White is a dangerous right-wing climate change denier who holds extreme, anti-science views. Block and resist her nomination to lead the Council on Environmental Quality." Add your name:

WATCH VIDEO: Senators left DUMBFOUNDED by Trump's Environmental Top Pick answers on Climate Change If Donald Trump's long list of climate-denying nominees wasn't terrifying enough, his pick to lead the Council on Environmental Quality might be the most extreme and dangerous one yet. Kathleen Hartnett White isn't just your run-of-the-mill extreme right-wing climate-denier. She's a senior fellow at the Koch brothers and Exxon-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation, believes carbon dioxide is harmless "plant food," equates belief in climate change to "paganism," and calls solar and wind power "unreliable and parasitic."1,2 But her most egregious argument against climate change asserts that coal use in the 1800s actually ended slavery in the United States, saying "fossil fuels dissolved the economic justification for slavery."3 A person with such heinous, racist, climate-denying views has no business overseeing environmental policy in our country. We must speak out now to pressure the Senate to block and resist her confirmation before it comes up for a vote. Tell the Senate: Reject climate-denier Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality. Click here to sign the petition. The little-known Council on Environmental Quality plays a big role in the White House in directing environmental policy across agencies and implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, which oversees environmental permit applications. An extreme climate-denier leading this council could have an oversized and dangerous influence over permit applications for fossil fuel infrastructure projects, like dirty oil pipelines or coal and fracked natural gas export terminals. In her recent Senate confirmation hearing, Hartnett White struggled to hide her anti-science views and long-time contempt for climate science. When asked if she believed the climate was changing, she first replied "I am uncertain," then fumbled to correct herself. Later in the hearing, when progressive champion Sen. Jeff Merkley asked Hartnett White if she believed carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically, she replied with a sigh and said "no."4 Political pundits have said if Harnett White is confirmed it will be "a huge win for Steve Bannon," but activism resisting Trump's climate-denying nominees is working.5 After hundreds of thousands of progressives – including more than 170,000 CREDO members – took action, urging the Senate to reject Sam Clovis, Trump's racist, climate-denying pick to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientist, Clovis withdrew his nomination from consideration.6 We must speak out again in full force to block another dangerous nominee from setting foot in the Trump regime. Tell the Senate: Reject climate-denier Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/reject_hartnett_white?t=7&akid=25989%2E3130208%2EZVcCJU - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action from Working Assets Andrew Kaczynski, "Trump pick for top environmental post called belief in global warming a 'kind of paganism,'" CNN, Oct 18, 2017. Democracy Now!, "Climate Denier Kathleen Hartnett White Named White House Environmental Adviser," Oct. 16, 2017. Christopher Hooks, "Top TPPF Analyst: Coal Ended Slavery," Texas Observer, Sept. 30, 2014. Alexander C. Kaufman, "5 Times Trump’s Pick For Top Environmental Adviser Struggled To Defend Her Climate Denial," HuffPost, Nov. 8, 2017. Alexander C. Kaufman, "Trump’s Pick For White House Environmental Post Once Said Coal Helped End Slavery," HuffPost, Oct 13, 2017. Alexander C. Kaufman, "Trump’s USDA Pick With Ties To Russia Investigation Withdraws Nomination," HuffPost, Nov. 2, 2017.

Tell your senators John McCain and Jeff Flake to reject all of President Trump's pro-polluter nominees for key positions in the EPA

Trump wants to install four big polluter allies in key positions at the EPA and the White House — and the Senate could move forward with these toxic nominees at any time. Tell your senators to say NO!

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A coal lobbyist. A tobacco industry consultant. An energy industry attorney. A climate change denier.

What do they all have in common?

They could all soon hold key environmental positions at the EPA and the White House.

How can anyone entrust protection of our environment or health to these individuals who've spent their careers working for big polluters?

But before these anti-environment nominees can take office, they have to get past the Senate.

Tell your senators — John McCain and Jeff Flake — to reject all of President Trump's pro-polluter nominees for key positions charged with defending our environment.

Trump's EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has already been hard at work eviscerating the common-sense safeguards that protect our clean water and air, and stalling our progress in fighting climate change. Now, these new nominees have the potential to wreak even more havoc on our environment and public health:

Andrew Wheeler, nominated to be Pruitt's EPA deputy, has spent the past eight years as a lobbyist for the coal industry and other industrial polluters, fighting against efforts to limit dangerous carbon pollution. Tell your senators: Vote NO.

Michael Dourson, Trump's pick to oversee chemical safety and pollution prevention at the EPA, has spent decades as a consultant doing the bidding of chemical and tobacco companies. He's built a career out of making it easier for companies to expose people to unsafe levels of toxic chemicals linked to cancer — and even fought to allow them in municipal drinking water supplies. Stop Trump's toxic nominees.

Bill Wehrum served as acting head of the EPA's clean air office under President George W. Bush. Courts found that, under his leadership, his office violated the Clean Air Act over 30 times, and increased dangerous air pollution. But Trump has nominated him to take control of the office again. Tell your senators to stand up for clean air and water.

Kathleen Hartnett White, Trump's nominee to serve as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality is a career fossil fuel apologist and oil industry shill. Not only does she deny the threat of climate change, she has dismissed the promise of renewable energy as "diffuse, unreliable, and parasitic" — in total opposition to all science and evidence. Don't let these anti-environment extremists set environmental policy.

The protection of our environment and health is not a game for hucksters and fools.It's one of the most serious responsibilities of government. And it can't be left to Trump and his climate denying, pro-polluter allies.

The Senate could move forward with these nominees at any time, so we must act now: Tell your senators to vote NO on all four of these toxic nominees, and to pressure their colleagues to do the same.


- Rhea Suh, NRDC Action Fund