EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Wanted A Live TV Debate Questioning Climate Change

An idea too wacky even for this White House.

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Scott Pruitt, the polluter-friendly chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, has already amassed a lengthy list of extreme, fringey accomplishments. As Rebecca Leber wrote in her recent Mother Jones cover story, Pruitt has set out to demolish one EPA policy after another during his first year on the job, driven by his religious beliefs and personal ambition. 

But the New York Times reports that one of Pruitt’s most radical ideas—a series of “military-style” debates challenging the validity of the science of climate change—was too far-out even for the Trump White House. Pruitt, a climate denier, has been pushing for so-called red team-blue team debates that would present the issue as open to debate. (Never mind that the science is settled: 97 percent of climate scientists agree that the planet’s warming over the past century is very likely due to humans. “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal,” according to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.)

The Times says that Pruitt mulled broadcasting his climate-change debates on live television and that he raised the idea with the ratings- and reality TV-obsessed president. Yet John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, wanted nothing to do with the debates:

But the plan encountered widespread resistance within the administration from Mr. Kelly and other top officials, who regarded it as ill-conceived and politically risky, and when Mr. Pruitt sought to announce it last fall, they weighed in to stop him. At a mid-December meeting set up by Mr. Kelly’s deputy, Rick Dearborn, to discuss the plan, Mr. Dearborn made it clear that his boss considered the idea “dead,” and not to be discussed further, according to people familiar with the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe internal White House deliberations and meetings.

Don’t expect the EPA’s deregulator-in-chief to be thwarted. It’s pretty clear that Pruitt has his sights set on a larger stage—the Senate? The White House? But first he wants to undo as much as of the previous administration’s work as he can, far from the glare of TV lights.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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