Trump taps climate science denier to run US government’s flagship climate report

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By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. 

Excerpt: The Trump administration has tapped a former geochemist who has railed against “climate alarmism” and calls himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile” to oversee the federal government’s flagship report about climate impacts on the US. Matthew Wielicki, who lacks formal training in climate science, will now lead the nation’s Global Change Research Program, which federal officials have gutted during Trump’s second term. In his new position, Wielicki will lead the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report detailing how Americans are affected by the climate crisis. ...The assessments are required to be produced every four years under legislation passed by Congress in 1990, but last year, the Trump administration shut down the online portal to access the five editions published since 2000. Wielicki is a climate science denier who frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos by rightwing YouTube channel PragerU. ...In 2023, Wielicki said people who believe in climate science are “being sold snake oil”.... 

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