Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to employees of the EPA in Washington on Feb. 21. The new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with mainstream scientific consensus. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said that measuring the effect of human activity on the climate is “very challenging” and that “there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact” of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, “a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere,” the agencies said in a joint statement. “Anyone who denies over a century's worth of established science and basic facts is unqualified to be the administrator of the EPA,” Schatz said in a statement.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 09, 2017 16:59 UTC