Trump Interior chief indifferent to record carbon dioxide levels – “I haven’t lost any sleep over it”

By Nichola Groom; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
15 May 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told a panel of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that he has not lost sleep over record amounts of carbon dioxide recorded in the Earth’s atmosphere, which scientists warn are altering the global climate.

“I haven’t lost any sleep over it,” he told the House Committee on Natural Resources, after Democratic Representative Matt Cartwright asked him to rate his level of concern regarding CO₂ levels.

Bernhardt said the United States was a leader among nations in reducing CO₂ emissions.

“I absolutely care that our climate is changing and that we need to factor that into our thinking,” Bernhardt said later in the hearing. “I absolutely believe that and I’ve said that over and over and over. That’s the reality.”

The Interior Department oversees about a fifth of the U.S. landmass, from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, and has helped enact the Trump administration’s pro-fossil fuel agenda by pushing for an expansion of oil, gas and coal development on the public lands it oversees.

But its role has angered environmentalists who see global climate change as a priority problem.

CO₂ levels hit a new record on 11 May 2019, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Keeling Curve. [more]

Trump Interior chief not losing sleep over record CO2 levels