Scott Pruitt, a Political Parrot, Now Heads the E.P.A.

Sometimes you just know you can’t trust a person. O. J. Simpson and Bernie Madoff come quickly to mind. For three decades major cigarette manufacturers insisted, “Hey, don’t worry. Smoke our products! You’ll never get cancer, not in a million years! And your heart will be fine!”

They were lying, of course, and millions died (and still do) from smoking every year.

More recently, Volkswagen rigged computer software in diesel engines to fake out emissions testing equipment. So what if increased pollution meant more kids developed asthma! Takata marketed airbags they knew tended to explode and spray deadly shrapnel. At least eleven Americans were killed and dozens injured. Major pharmaceutical companies have been sued and defeated in court for all kinds of sleazy practices and in the ten biggest cases forced to pay $13 billion in fines. And don’t forget Donald J. Trump. Our President once claimed he handpicked every instructor who taught at Trump University. When students complained about lousy courses and the high tuition fees, Trump was deposed as and couldn’t name a single instructor at the school. Shown a mix of pictures of instructors and non-instructors, he couldn’t pick anyone out of the “lineup,” except maybe Oscar the Grouch. As a candidate, he promised he’d fight the charges to the death once the election was over. Then he settled for $25 million in damages. Sometimes, you just know in your heart, “These people are lying.”

If you wonder what this has to do with Scott Pruitt and the EPA, keep this in mind. Pruitt has long been a useful stooge of the Big Energy companies. As Attorney General of Oklahoma he insisted for years that fracking had nothing to do with a rise in earthquakes in that state. (See the perfectly titled story in The Hill: “Scott Pruitt Heading the EPA like Putting Custer in Charge of Indian Affairs.”) The Big Energy companies—which “invested” hundreds of thousands in his campaigns—loved Pruitt. They loved him so much they sent draft letters to his office. Pruitt loved those hundreds of thousands in campaign donations so much he took those draft letters, did a little “cut and paste,” and sent those same letters on State of Oklahoma letterhead to EPA officials in Washington, D.C., to members of Congress and President Obama. Excessive federal regulation was harming the good citizens of Oklahoma, Pruitt said—or rather, Big Energy said, and Pruitt repeated, word for word, not unlike a political parrot.

Only this parrot was lying.

Given a choice to believe a letter written by Big Energy companies and transferred to State of Oklahoma letterhead to disguise its provenance, or to listen to reasonable voices and scientists, call me a “sucker.” I’m willing to believe a report in National Geographic, based on a few actual facts: “In parts of Oklahoma, this wastewater injection [from fracking] has increased five to tenfold. At the same time, earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and greater spiked from fewer than 100 between 1970 and 2009 to almost 600 in 2014, and a whopping 907 in 2015.”

I had to read that twice to catch the import. From 1970 to 2009 roughly 15 minor quakes occurred per year, but still strong enough to crack buildings and worse. After fracking there were 907 quakes in one year.

But, hey, don’t worry! Have a cigarette! It will calm your nerves.

Meanwhile, a recent story in The New York Times, citing scientists doing actual science, makes clear how dangerous Pruitt is. President Trump may be vowing to keep us safe from terrorists, and Mexican rapists, and reporters who want to ferret out the truth. But where climate change is involved—and all of us are going to pay a price, and our children a larger price—and our grandchildren are going to rue the day we did so little—Pruitt is a disaster.

In a stunning pronouncement during a recent interview with CNBC, Pruitt denied CO2 was a major cause of global warming/climate change, basically standing accepted science on its noggin’.  “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the impact, so, no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”

He’s right about one aspect. There is disagreement. Scientists agree CO2 is the main problem. The Big Energy companies, and people like the Koch brothers, who stand to make more money, want to bamboozle the public with false claims,. at least that part of the public too lazy to study actual science.

Just for fun, consider the idea that scientists might be interested in establishing, um, well, scientific facts.

The EPA has long insisted (although this may change once Pruitt and the deniers take charge): “Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change.”

The International Panel on Climate Change, representing 2,000 scientists from round the globe, reports that it is “extremely likely” that more than half of human-caused climate change since 1951 is a result of CO2 buildup in the atmosphere.

Who agrees?

Those “lying” scientists at NASA! You can check out their explanation yourself—how the earth is a giant greenhouse—how increased CO2 in the atmosphere traps heat and warms the planet. NASA’s assessment is blunt: “Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived ‘forcing’ of climate change.”

And yet, Pruitt doesn’t get it. Big Energy tells him what to say and he repeats it: “Squawk! Nothing to worry about! Squawk!”

What does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration think? More “lying” scientists!! The two degree increase in the earth’s temperature since the end of 19th century represents “a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.”

Who else thinks our children and grandchildren will be screwed? The “lying” scientists at the World Meteorological Organisation! The WMO reports that 2016 was the hottest year on record—breaking the record set in 2015—which broke a record set way back in 2014. The damage being done is also clear. According to WMO executive director Petteri Taalas, “We have also broken sea ice minimum records in the Arctic and Antarctic. Greenland glacier melt—one of the contributors to sea level rise—started early and fast. Arctic sea ice was the lowest on record both at the start of the melt season in March and at the height of the normal refreezing period in October and November.”

In the end, it’s not at all hard to grasp this concept. Those who stand to make money by following a given path, however illegal or unethical, will often do their best to follow that path. Big Energy wants to keep piling up the cash. Charles Koch is worth an estimated $48.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Clearly, he’s been frittering away his money because brother David is worth $48.6 billion.

Together, they are happy to bankroll as many climate deniers as they can find under various pseudo-scientific rocks.

Unfortunately, future generations are going to pay in a far different way for inaction today.

Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s choice to head the EPA will be remembered, along with his delusional Commander-in-Chief, by future scientists and historians for the role they played in making the climate change situation far worse.

“Squawk.”

Our children and grandchildren are going to pay in the future for inaction today.