EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: Hurricane Irma Isn’t the Right Time to Talk Climate Change

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday that Hurricane Irma is not the time to talk about climate change. “Here’s the issue,” Pruitt told CNN. “To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm—versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm—is misplaced. What we need to focus on is access to clean water, addressing these areas of Superfund activities that may cause an attack on water, these issues of access to fuel. ... Those are things so important to citizens of Florida right now, and to discuss the cause and effect of these storms, there’s the... place [and time] to do that. It’s not now.” Experts have said that climate change and gradually warming temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have made severe hurricanes like Irma more likely. Since taking charge of the EPA, Pruitt has rolled back several greenhouse-gas emission regulations and declined to say if climate change is real, while climate science data has been removed from the agency’s website.