The E.P.A Chief Wanted a Climate Science Debate. Trump's Chief of Staff Stopped Him.
Source: NYT
John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has killed an effort by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to stage public debates challenging climate change science, according to three people familiar with the deliberations, thwarting a plan that had intrigued President Trump even as it set off alarm bells among his top advisers.
The idea of publicly critiquing climate change on the national stage has been a notable theme for Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the E.P.A. For nearly a year he has championed the notion of holding military-style exercises known as red team, blue team debates, possibly to be broadcast live, to question the validity of climate change.
Mr. Pruitt has spoken personally with Mr. Trump about the idea, and the president expressed enthusiasm for it, according to people familiar with the conversations.
But the plan encountered widespread resistance within the administration from Mr. Kelly and other top officials, who regarded it as ill-conceived and politically risky, and when Mr. Pruitt sought to announce it last fall, they weighed in to stop him. At a mid-December meeting set up by Mr. Kellys deputy, Rick Dearborn, to discuss the plan, Mr. Dearborn made it clear that his boss considered the idea dead, and not to be discussed further, according to people familiar with the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe internal White House deliberations and meetings.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/climate/pruitt-red-team-climate-debate-kelly.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Jesus H. Christ on a trailer hitch.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,271 posts)Whether Kelly accept AGW, I don't know - quite likely he does, since the higher military aren't ideologically opposed to the concept, and usually have to be intelligent enough to understand. But he doesn't want his White House being shown up for the know-nothings they are.
janx
(24,128 posts)Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be? It would be like a flat earth debate or something.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)Is pruitt really stupid enough to believe this garbage? Only someone delusional or who thought they could stack the deck in their favor would consider such a thing.