Last November I was writing about the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White to head the Council on Environmental Quality. She was up before a senate committee to endorse her in the role and I was at that time mulling over just how grossly inappropriate she was for that position.
Not the right person
If you searched diligently for the most inappropriate appointee then she would win hands down. Her stance is that CO2 is wonderful stuff and not a problem at all …
CO2 is often called the “gas of life” because it makes photosynthesis possible — the most essential energy conversion on which all life on the Earth depends. An invisible, harmless trace gas in the Earth’s atmosphere, CO2 is a plant food.
She is very much a fully funded fo$$il fuel advocate and maintain$ that po$ition for rather obviou$ rea$on$ …
As a fellow of the conservative Austin-based think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, White leaves a long paper trail that will surely be fodder for her confirmation hearing. The group has been funded by fossil fuel interests, including Exxon and the Koch brothers.
She has decried regulation of carbon dioxide, which she calls “the gas of life,” and co-authored last year’s paean to the fracking boom, “Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy.” Her co-author, economist Stephen Moore, founded the Club for Growth, the political action group that weaponized the primary process to successfully move the Republican party to the right over the past two decades.
It will no doubt not exactly be a shock to discover that the Republican majority on the senate committee endorsed her and so things moved forward to a full senate vote for her appointment.
So what happened?
Update: She has been blocked
The Dallas News has the details …
WASHINGTON — Democrats successfully stalled the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, a climate change skeptic President Donald Trump nominated to be a top White House environmental adviser.
If Trump still wants the former Texas regulator to lead his Council on Environmental Quality, he’ll have to nominate her again.
Sen. Tom Carper, the senior Democrat on the committee that oversees the EPA and environmental policy, vowed Tuesday to block White from rolling over into 2018 automatically with other pending nominations. He delivered on that late Thursday, when the Senate excluded her from a list of nominations to resume debating in the new year.
Having not yet gone to a full Senate vote, the democrats blocked her from rolling forward into the 2018 agenda. Procedurally such a move is never done … normally … but these are not normal times.
I will object to any agreement that allows Ms. White's nomination to be held over into the second session of the 115th Congress. Let's start the new year off with a clean slate and allow @POTUS the opportunity to nominate a qualified leader for CEQ. https://t.co/mob11Sgnqd
— Senator Tom Carper (@SenatorCarper) December 19, 2017
Least you wonder, this is not just a political battle. The scientific community, a group that would not normally be involved in something like this, stepped in and very vocally and decisively said “no” …
Nearly 50 environmental advocacy groups urged lawmakers to reject White. Last month, more than 300 scientists called on senators to oppose her nomination.
This is no longer just a Republican vs Democrat issue. By endorsing such choices the Republicans have aligned themselves against the best interests of the vast majority of the people, common sense, and the prevailing scientific consensus.