Donald Trump's Administration Disbands National Climate Advisory Committee
Donald Trump's administration continues to be at odds with climate assessment experts, as just shown when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has informed its sustained climate advisory panel that they will not have a renewed charter past Sunday, Aug. 20.
With that, the federal advisory panel for the National Climate Assessment, a group providing climate analyses that help policymakers and the private sector plan for their projects' long-term effects on climate, has been disbanded.
The charter for the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment will not be renewed past Sunday, Aug. 20, as the Washington Post reports. The 15-person panel was reportedly informed by NOAA acting administrator Ben Friedman last Friday, Aug. 18, that the agency elected to not renew the advisory group.
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The National Climate Assessment, a report due to be issued for 2018, could be in doubt as the Trump administration continue to debate on the truth of climate change.
The NOAA, however, assured via email that "this action does not impact the completion of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which remains a key priority," according to agency communications director Julie Roberts in an email sent Saturday.
A key section of the National Climate Assessment called the Climate Science Special Report is currently under scrutiny by the Trump administration, according to The Independent. According to this report, the rise in global temperatures over the last 40 years can be mostly attributed to human activity — a conclusion that runs counter to some of the current administration members' views.
A leaked draft of the report suggests that human activities have caused worldwide temperatures to increase by 1.1 to 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit from 1951 to 2010. These kinds of findings are made up, according to Donald Trump, by the Chinese to suppress U.S. manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Environmental Protection administrator Scott Pruitt has replaced members of the agency's science review boards, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is reportedly mulling over the charters of his department's more than 200 advisory panels.
