Donald Trump withdraws nomination of climate change sceptic for top environmental post
She once called global warming a 'kind of paganism' for 'secular elites'
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Your support makes all the difference.President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of a climate change sceptic for a top environmental post in his administration.
Mr Trump had chosen Kathleen Hartnett White, who once referred to global warming as a “kind of paganism” for “secular elites”, to lead the Council on Environmental Quality.
But after the nomination process dragged on for a year - and facing tough opposition from Democrats - the White House pulled the plug on the nomination.
Administration officials told the Washington Post that Ms Hartnett White’s nomination did not have enough momentum and that Senate Republicans were hesitant about her experience.
If confirmed, Ms Hartnett White would have been in charge of overseeing whether federal agencies were meeting environmental obligations.
Currently a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, she had previously served as chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Her work at the foundation rejected the idea that carbon is a pollutant that worsens global warming. Instead, it praised the fossil-fuel industry for pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, saying the gas helps plants grow.
During her confirmation hearing, she continued to express uncertainty about how much humans have contributed to climate change.
She has also called renewable energy “parasitic” and labelled former President Barack Obama’s climate change initiatives “deluded and illegitimate.”
The decision to withdraw Ms Hartnett White’s nomination is likely to be celebrated by environmental groups, which had called her “unqualified” for the job and a “direct threat to Americans’ health and safety”.
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