A climate change denier in charge of climate change?

Donald Trump has named Scott Pruitt, attorney general of Oklahoma and a climate change denier, to run the Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups are at DEFCON 1.

“This is a guy who has devoted much of his career to try and stop the EPA from doing its job,” said Bob Deans, director of strategic engagement for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

I don’t know about that, but he has sued the EPA saying it has no legal right to force Oklahoma to cut the amount of CO2 pumped into the air.

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Here’s what he told Congress last year:

“We are already in the top four states in the country in generating electricity through renewables and wind. But yet, this EPA is expecting the State of Oklahoma to reduce their CO2 footprint by over 32 percent. How? By shuttering coal generation in the State of Oklahoma.”

Which he said wasn’t fair to workers who would lose their jobs, nor to consumers who’d pay more for electricity.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, where rising water levels threaten beach property and the fishing industry, went after him.

“Is climate change a problem anywhere in the world?” Sheldon asked.

“Senator, I think it’s immaterial to discussions about the legal framework of the Clean Air Act,” Pruitt responded.

But Pruitt did not say, “I deny climate change.” What he did say is that the EPA needs to stay within the law, which the way he reads it says Oklahoma’s CO2 is Oklahoma’s business, not the EPA’s.

It’s no surprise that landlocked states like Oklahoma would see climate change differently than coastal states like Rhode Island. The only problem with Pruitt’s argument is that Oklahoma’s CO2 tends not to remain in Oklahoma. Although, we now have a president willing to build really high walls.

Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

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