Judge demands Pruitt’s proof on global warming claim

In a June 1 ruling, U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia Judge Beryl Howell ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to turn over “agency records” upon which Administrator Scott Pruitt relied in stating that carbon dioxide created by human activity is not a “primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” In March 2017, Pruitt appeared on the CNBC program, “Squawk Box,” where he made the claim. He additionally claimed that “there’s a tremendous disagreement about of [sic] the impact” of “human activity on the climate,” according to the judge’s ruling. These claims drew the attention of the nonprofit group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and the group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for what EPA records Pruitt relied on in making such claims. The judge noted that the EPA “has performed no search for and produced no records in response to the FOIA request. The EPA filed for a summary judgement in its favor, arguing that the requested materials were not appropriate for an FOIA request, but the court denied the request. The EPA has until July 2 to turn over the requested documentation, and until July 11 to present “an explanation for any documents withheld in full or in part.” — WLJ