Trump withdraws nomination of climate change skeptic for top environmental post

President Trump has officially withdrawn the nomination of a controversial pick for a top environmental post.

The nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, whom Trump tapped to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, was officially withdrawn Monday, according to a White House release. Her nomination was one of dozens that had to be resubmitted to the Senate after the start of the new year.

Hartnett White, a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, has been one of Trump’s most controversial nominations because of her public skepticism about climate change.

{mosads}Administration officials told The Washington Post over the weekend that Trump would withdraw Hartnett White’s nomination, saying that it did not have enough momentum and that Senate Republicans were hesitant about her experience.

During Hartnett White’s confirmation hearing, she expressed uncertainty about how much humans have contributed to climate change.

She once referred to belief in global warming as “paganism” for “secular elites” and to renewable energy as “parasitic.” In a 2016 op-ed for The Hill, she harshly criticized Obama-era environmental policy, calling the former president’s climate change initiatives “deluded and illegitimate.”

Her nomination was faced with major outcry from environmental groups, who said she was “unqualified” and a “direct threat to Americans’ health and safety.”