Interviews loom for PUCO post By Marc Kovac

Los Angeles Times: Unsurprisingly, 2016 was the hottest year on record – the third straight year in which worldwide temperatures have reached record levels. Ironically, Scott Pruitt, the climate change skeptic whom Donald Trump has chosen to run the Environmental Protection Agency, just happened to be testifying before a Senate committee charged with vetting his nomination when the announcement was made.

The facts are plain, and verifiable. The Arctic experienced an unfathomably warm fall - up to 35 degrees warmer than usual in places - which is expected to accelerate the shrinking of the Arctic ice cap.

It may be quixotic to hope that President Trump or Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt will respect the science and change their tunes on global warming. It is unlikely the new administration will advance the Obama administration’s policies to address rising temperature. But if Trump continues to question the significant role that human activity - particularly the burning of fossil fuels – has played in increasing global temperatures, American states and cities and countries around the world can still press forward. Trump might deny the science, but the rest of the world cannot.