EPA chief questions science behind climate change as agency warns U.S. communities to prepare for disasters - Entrepreneur Generations

The Environmental Protection Agency published a 150-page document last week urging state and local leaders to start planning for the fallout from worsening natural disasters, including floods, hurricanes and wildfires. 

The guide builds on a recent government report outlining the effects of climate change, but it's a curious contrast to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler's views on the subject; last month, the former fossil fuels lobbyist told CBS that climate change mostly wouldn't be a problem until 50 to 75 years from now, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis report for The Washington Post.

"The divergence between Wheeler and his own agency offers the latest example of the often contradictory way that federal climate policy has evolved under President Trump. As the White House has sought to minimize or ignore climate science, government experts have continued to sound the alarm," Eilperin and Dennis report. "The White House has repeatedly sought ways to question the broad scientific consensus that human activities are driving climate change, and it is considering creating a federal advisory panel to reexamine those findings. But while the National Security Council is still pursuing the task force proposal, it has encountered resistance from military and intelligence officials as well as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy."

That's because there's an increasing body of research that confirms not only the existence of climate change but its effects. "Since 2011, the American Meteorological Society has compiled an annual assessment of how human-caused climate change probably affected the strength and frequency of extreme events such as record heat waves, droughts and wildfires," Eilperin and Dennis report. "The group has said that of the more than 130 peer-reviewed studies published as part of the annual reviews, about 65 percent have identified the fingerprints of climate change in extreme weather events, while about 35 percent found no clear connection."

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2XUhtMQ EPA chief questions science behind climate change as agency warns U.S. communities to prepare for disasters - Entrepreneur Generations

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