WASHINGTON—More than 300 scientists from across the country delivered a letter to the Senate expressing their opposition to President Trump's White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair nominee Kathleen Hartnett White. The letter, published today in a Politico full-page ad, comes ahead of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works confirmation vote this week.

Hartnett White has a history of rejecting mainstream climate science, and continued to do so at her Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month. Among other scientifically inaccurate statements, she asserted that carbon emissions do not demonstrate a public health hazard and should not be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

Dr. Amanda Lynch, the director of the Brown University Institute at Brown for Environment and Society who has been researching the climate system for 30 years, decided to organize the letter after Hartnett White's testimony. "Hearing a candidate for public office question whether warm water expands was the final straw," Lynch said.

The letter questioned whether Hartnett White is intentionally misrepresenting climate science and said she is not fit to serve as the president's chief advisor on energy and environmental policies.

"The physics and the chemistry of carbon dioxide in the climate system have been understood for over a century," Lynch said. "It's important the nominee for this key advisory role understand that the climate is changing and that human activities are contributing substantially, based on the empirical and theoretical evidence."

This release was issued by The Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with people across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe and sustainable future. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org.

For questions, contact Ashanti Washington at the Union of Concerned Scientists.