Did EPA head ask coal lobby to fight Paris climate pact? Claim disputed

Claim disputed.
On Monday, Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt reportedly asked a powerful coal lobbying group to request that the U.S. pull out of the Paris pact.
According to a report by Politico, a source said Pruitt asked the group to press Trump to pull the U.S. out of the accord.
The report was "strongly denied" by a National Mining Association spokesman, the report said, "despite a source telling Politico that he did."
Whether or not the request was made, the committee reportedly voted 26 to 5 to ask the president to leave the Paris accord.
Some would accept U.S. participation if the administration works to boost research into carbon capture, or so-called "clean coal" technology, that could allow coal to continue as a fuel burned to generate electricity.
CHECK OUT: U.S. exit from Paris climate pact unclear; Trump team clashes on policy Other coal companies, including Murray Energy—run by wealthy Trump backer Robert Murray—are adamant in their opposition to any carbon-reduction efforts, and indeed to climate science as a whole.
As numerous journalists have reported, President Trump and many of his appointed agency and department heads deny the science of climate change.
And the Environmental Protection Agency is now run by a man who sued the EPA more than a dozen times to prevent it from enforcing emission rules against fossil-fuel producers in his home state of Oklahoma.
Thank you in advance for helping us keep our comments on topic, civil, respectful, and fact-based.

Learn More