Energy

Former Bush EPA Head ‘Worried Terribly’ About Trump’s Climate Policies

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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The former head of the EPA under the George W. Bush administration believes the Trump administration could mean doom for the environment.

Christine Todd Whitman, who headed the agency from 2001 to 2003, accused President-elect Donald Trump of potentially torpedoing climate policies.

“I worry terribly for the future of my family and families round the world because Mother Nature has never observed geopolitical boundaries and what one country does really does affect another country,” Todd Whitman told BBC in an interview airing Tuesday.

She added that Trump’s policy objectives would essentially buck the advise and counsel of the entire scientific community.

“To walk away from something where you have 97% of scientists saying this is occurring and people have an impact on it … it’s gotten to the point where we’ve got to try to slow it down if we’re going to survive it,” Todd Whitman said.

The former EPA chief also voiced concern about Trump’s nominee to head the agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has fought for years to stymie President Barack Obama’s climate regulations.

Trump made axing large portions of the agency’s regulations a cog in his campaign message, especially in so-called Coal Country, where Obama’s Clean Power Plan has contributed to the shuttering of several coal power plants.

Democrat lawmakers label the Oklahoma Republican a “climate denier” and a shill for the fossil fuel industry. They’ve added to the chorus of environmentalists complaining about Pruitt’s appointment.

“Once he’s in office, Pruitt will find it’s a lot more complicated than they thought,” she said about Pruitt’s ability to ratchet down the EPA’s regulatory snarl. “Hopefully they’ll be able to listen – and then start to moderate.”

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