Trump’s Homeland Security Leadership Nominee Kristi Noem Dismisses Climate Science

CLIMATE | President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the department responsible for disaster recovery has been a climate change skeptic, has refused to accept federal climate money and has been criticized for his own handling of a natural disaster.

Trump appointed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday to head the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency at a time when damage from extreme weather is surging. FEMA distributes billions of dollars in disaster aid each year and runs the nation’s largest insurance company to cover floods, the most damaging disaster in the United States

But Noem rejected the idea that humans are causing temperatures to rise.

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In March 2022, a reporter asked if he believed the climate was changing: Noem replied“I think the science is varied on this, and it hasn’t been proven to me that what we’re doing is affecting the climate.”

Republican Noem is one of five governors to reject the proposal EPA planning grants He said the Biden administration has made an offer to every state to combat climate pollution.

HE single governor It was decided to withdraw from the new $4 billion Department of Energy program that provides money to states to distribute to their residents for energy-efficient home appliances and improvements. South Dakota’s share was $69 million; This is one of the largest amounts per capita in the country.

“This money could have been used for commercial contractors to install energy-efficient appliances, which would have reduced heating and cooling costs for people renting or purchasing these homes,” South Dakota State Sen. Linda Duba (D) said Tuesday. .

“We are trying to reduce costs for individuals, so there was a huge opportunity there,” Duba added.

Noem spokesman Ian Fury said: he said last year He said the governor rejected the rebate money because “federal spending often comes with strings attached, and anything more is usually not a good thing.”

Noem rejected pollution grant Because “we focus on solving long-term problems with one-time investments rather than creating new government programs,” Fury said.

Noem also did not claim most of the money FEMA provides to states through a grant program for resilience projects.

FEMA has offered $3.6 million to each state from 2021 through 2023. FEMA records show South Dakota collected only $1.3 million. This is one of the lowest collection rates of any state.

FEMA records show Noem also sought minimal funding from a separate FEMA grant program that pays for projects to reduce flood damage.

He would be the eighth Homeland Security secretary since the department was created after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Two of them were also governors: Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.

If the Senate confirms her, Noem is expected to focus largely on border and immigration issues. DHS includes Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Noem joins legal attacks on climate programs

Noem’s skepticism about climate change stands in sharp contrast to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, both of whom currently serve under President Joe Biden. Both highlighted the enormous damage caused by intensified hurricanes, wildfires and floods, which they linked to climate change.

Trump has not yet named a FEMA administrator, which requires Senate confirmation, and will likely wait until he picks his Cabinet and other senior officials.

Noem, who has been governor since 2019, has faced criticism for her response to major flooding in southeastern South Dakota in June when streams, including the Big Sioux River, overflowed from major rainfall. Some locals criticize Noem For not mobilizing the South Dakota National Guard and flying to Tennessee to attend a Republican fundraiser during the flood.

When reporters asked Noem why she didn’t deploy the National Guard, she pointed out the cost and said no local officials had requested it, according to South Dakota Searchlight. Spokesman Fury said at the time that county emergency managers were handling local emergencies and were supported by the state upon request.

“Obviously he was driving back and forth upstate while it was raining and the focus should have been right here. “He had to cancel all the press conferences and be here because the flooding was so bad,” said Duba, a Democratic state senator.

A few weeks after the flood, Noem asked Biden Approving federal disaster assistance for South Dakota. Biden approved the request, and FEMA awarded $9.1 million to 1,100 residents for emergency expenses and minor home repairs.

Noem has experience with the FEMA disaster system. During his time in office, he made 10 requests to the White House for FEMA assistance after natural disasters; five from Biden and five from Trump, with Trump rejecting one claim due to insufficient damages. Under his leadership, South Dakota received a total of $142 million in aid from FEMA, according to agency records.

In 2023, Noem hired Navigators Global, a Washington lobbying firm, “to ensure South Dakota taxpayers get their fair share of all the money they send to the federal government.” Cesar Conda said at the time:.

Noem met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in early 2023. Around the same time, his chief of staff, Mark Miller, met with Mitch Landrieu, who was then at the White House overseeing implementation of bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

Noem also attacked some of the Biden administration’s actions on climate change while asking for help from the White House. HE joins 15 other Republican governors To protest the Securities and Exchange Commission’s move to require publicly traded companies to disclose their risks from climate change.

“Because climate change models vary significantly, the idea of ​​assessing investment risk based on such uncertain variables is inherently subjective and unreliable,” the governors wrote to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in 2022.

Noem also participated in a lawsuit Preventing the Biden administration from putting a price on the “social cost” of carbon emissions that agencies could use to write stronger climate regulations. The case was dismissed.

‘You’re fired!’

A year after becoming governor, Noem gained national attention for insisting that state and local businesses remain open during the pandemic. He was the only governor Reject Trump’s offer You can benefit from additional unemployment benefits.

Noem described the outbreak and response as a life-changing event.

“In 2020, dysfunction turned into dictatorship,” Noem wrote in her autobiography, “No Turning Back,” published this year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic changed our country and it changed me. It almost killed us, and I’m not talking about a virus. Noem wrote that much of the American population is at risk of being controlled.

“South Dakota,” he boasted, “was the only state in the country that did not close a single business.”

Before that, Noem, a member of Congress from 2011 to 2019, had little interest in climate issues or disasters and was focused on agriculture and the military.

Noem, 52, served in the South Dakota Legislature from 2007 to 2011 and grew up on a farm in the eastern part of the state.

In Noem’s memoir, “Not My First Rodeo,” published in 2022, she wrote: “If I had to describe my general political beliefs, and the political beliefs of my entire family and most of my neighbors, in one word, it would be this: Respect.”

However, Noem expressed that this approach is sharper in her newest book, “No Going Back.”

Towards the end, he lists the actions he will take on his first day as president. These include “closing the border” and “building the wall and reinstating the ‘Made in Mexico’ policy.”

Noem also said, “I couldn’t beat John Kerry just by looking him in the eye and saying, ‘You’re fired!’ He said he would hire her as climate czar just to have the pleasure of saying “

reprinted E&E News Courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.