EPA Chief: Climate Accord Exit Targets Will Be Met

On Friday, the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, told Newsmax that his agency would carry out the exit from the Paris climate accord without hesitation. “There are discussions that are ongoing with the Justice Department on the steps that we’ll be taking to execute the withdrawal on the exit. That’s something that’s going to be happening over the next several weeks. But as far as the targets are concerned . . . that is [something] immediate and it’s something that’s clear.”

But a few in Congress had concerns. Barely an hour before President Trump announced on Thursday that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Paris climate change accord, Sen. Jim Inhofe R-Texas, told Newsmax he was concerned that career government officials at the EPA would try to undermine his decision.

The EPA is “still full of people [at the career level] who are committed to climate change and would undermine the president’s decision,” said Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee.

“What’s important to know is that the president said unequivocally that the targets set in Paris, the 26 to 28 percent targets, are not enforceable and are not going to be complied with,” Pruitt told me, in response to a question citing Inhofe’s concern about EPA’s commitment to the withdrawal. (He was referring to the Obama administration’s pledge under the agreement to cut its emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.)

Moreover, Pruitt emphasized that the Green Climate Fund “where the United States committed $3 billion of initial funding is not going to continue. That is the case, and that’s going to be immediate.”