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The context: Kuperberg’s reassignment is the latest in a series of high-level moves to remove officials deemed insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump after his re-election. Earlier Monday, Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. On Friday, Neil Chatterjee was dismissed as FERC chairman on Friday after advocating opening up markets to renewable sources and exploring carbon pricing.
Context: Congress calls on the federal government to produce updated reports of the NCA, the authoritative government report on climate change, every few years. It is produced by the USGCRP, which coordinates contributions from 13 government agencies.
The most recent edition, the Fourth Version, was released in 2018 and, despite fears that Trump administration officials could tamper with its findings, has been widely hailed as accurately portraying the threat posed by climate change.
Kuperberg’s departure comes following the Trump administration’s hiring of David Legates, a University of Delaware scholar who wrote that “carbon dioxide is a plant food and is not a pollutant.” , to a newly created political post at NOAA.
The news: Kuperberg had led the USGCRP since 2015 and was to stay there until the fifth edition was completed in 2023. An administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed Kuperberg’s decision and said the change was a surprise.
The White House has not made an official comment on Kuperberg’s withdrawal. Climatologist Don Wuebbles confirmed to POLITICO that Kuperberg was informed by email on Friday that he was going to be fired at his post at DOE.
Much of the work on the next assessment will take place during the Biden administration, but Trump officials could still influence the report in the remaining months. Nov. 14 marks the deadline for author nominations, and a new executive director could push for the program to select candidates who have views more aligned with Trump’s on climate change.
But NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue, another recently appointed by Trump, said he imagines Weatherhead will continue as climate assessment officer, and noted that the new Biden administration could make changes. .
“The elections obviously changed the math on a lot of things,” Maue told POLITICO.
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