Pruitt Remarks On Carbon Emissions May Be Subject To Review By EPA Inspector General

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Pruitt sparked the inquiry when a CNBC interviewer asked him if carbon dioxide was the "primary control knob" for climate change. He replied: "So no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see. But we don't know that yet...We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis."

The comment, which goes against the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, prompted the Sierra Club to ask the agency's Office of Inspector General to conduct an inquiry into Pruitt's statements. The Sierra Club said the statements violated the agency's own scientific integrity policy. "We respectfully urge you to investigate and remedy this violation as soon as possible to prevent further erosion of scientific integrity at the agency," Sierra Club's attorneys wrote in the letter on March 14.

The agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) responded by saying it would refer the Sierra Club's request to the Scientific Integrity Official (SIO), who would then report back to the OIG. "If after the SIO review, [Grifo] concludes there is some aspect of the letter itself, or her findings or conclusions that she believes are appropriate for further consideration by the OIG, she will so notify the OIG," the agency said on March 30.

EPA implemented its scientific integrity policy, along with other science-centric agencies, after the Obama administration called for agencies to strengthen internal reviews on science in 2009. The move was in response to the previous administration's rewriting of regulations based on questionable or politically motivated science. "It just got so out of control during Bush-Cheney that people began recognized it as an issue, so much so that it was one of the first actions Obama took," said Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group of former government employees and scientists.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05042017/environmental-protection-agency-scott-pruitt-climate-change-denialist-fossil-fuels