Trump renominates climate denier for top environmental policy post

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Here we go again. President Trump has resubmitted the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White for chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In December, the Senate sent her name back to the president at the end of the legislative session. That means Hartnett White must now start the process over, including a new vote from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. It was her November appearance in front of the committee that gave us such memorable climate-denier gems as, “There are many different types of scientists;” “I am uncertain—no, I’m not;” and the instant classic, “[audible sigh].” While Hartnett White is not an ounce more qualified now to coordinate environmental policy than when her nomination lapsed, her questioning of the role of science in policy fits perfectly within the Trump administration philosophy—that is, put people in charge of what they hate the most.

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