August 24, 2017 - WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity submitted Freedom of Information Act requests yesterday seeking public records from three federal agencies to shine a light on the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
The request seeks all reports and memoranda that the administration relied upon when it made its decision, as well as related emails, telephone logs and notes from meetings involving President Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and other administration officials.
As the international community prepares for this November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, the Center hopes to determine how Trump’s Paris decision was influenced by a poor understanding of climate science and lobbying by the fossil fuel industry. The Center also looks to uncover whether any new scientific or economic analysis was used in justifying the withdrawal.
“We need to know if Trump put any real thought at all into this profoundly dangerous decision,” said Clare Lakewood, a staff attorney at the Center. “Withdrawing from the Paris agreement isolated America by highlighting this administration’s reckless contempt for our planet’s future. Americans have a right to learn how Trump officials were influenced by scientific ignorance and fossil fuel industry lobbyists.”
Today’s requests were sent to the Department of State, EPA and Office of Management and Budget.
On June 1, 2017, Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris agreement. A recent survey found that 71 percent of Americans support the agreement, which acknowledges the urgent need to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Source:Center for Biological Diversity
