Given the lack of understanding of basic climate science Scott Pruitt displayed on a recent appearance on CNBC, 33 House Democrats have sent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head educational materials to help him get a grip on established facts.
Speaking last week to the network's "Squawk Box," Pruitt sparked the ire of climate groups—and contradicted his own statements to the U.S. Senate—when he said, "I would not agree that [carbon dioxide] is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see."
"As Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt must understand these non-controversial concepts," a press statement from Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) states.
Blumenauer, along with 32 of his House colleagues including Reps. Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), and Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) sent to Pruitt a brief letter as well as a copy of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Climate Literacy Guide, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis report, and highlights from the latest U.S. National Climate Assessment.
"It's clear that you need to read the enclosed reports," they write.
From the Climate Literacy Guide (which is "for learners of all ages"), Pruitt could read that "burning fossil fuels, releasing chemicals into the atmosphere, reducing the amount of forest cover, and rapid expansion of farming, development, and industrial activities are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and changing the balance of the climate system."
"Human-induced climate change is projected to continue, and it will accelerate significantly if emissions of heat-trapping gases continue to increase," the U.S. National Climate Assessment states.
Following his statements contradicting scientific evidence, Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said, "As Pruitt testified before Congress, it is the legal duty of the EPA to tackle the carbon pollution that fuels the climate crisis, but now he is spewing corporate polluter talking points rather than fulfilling the EPA's mission of protecting our air, our water, and our communities."
"Pruitt is endangering our families, and any sensible Senator should demand he is removed from his position immediately for misleading Congress and being unfit and unwilling to do the job he has been entrusted to do," he said.
