‘This is like assembling a panel of gravity sceptics who insist it’s safe to jump off tall buildings,’ says NASA scientist
The Trump administration is reportedly ready to set up a panel to reconsider and possibly change the US government’s position on climate change.
A committee working under the National Security Council (NSC) would include sceptics who have questioned the scientific consensus on manmade global warming, administration officials have revealed.
The White House plan has been championed by William Happer, one of the NSC’s senior directors and a physicist who has disputed the damaging impact CO2 emissions are having on the earth’s atmosphere.
Having the panel operate under the NSC would avoid the public scrutiny usually required of government advisory committees, senior officials told The Washington Post.
The White House is thought to be keen to formally challenge recent federal reports, including the National Climate Assessment – an interagency study released in November that outlined the threats posed to the US by global warming.
