The Environmental Protection Agency tried to show praise for President Trump’s climate change executive order on Thursday but instead may have done the opposite.
In an email sent out Thursday morning, attempting to show what industry groups and lawmakers are saying about Trump’s action, the EPA included the remarks of a leading critic of Trump’s anti-climate change efforts, Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, instead of the remarks of one of his champions, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., from coal country, but attributed the quote to Capito.
On top of that, it was the first item in a long list called “What they are saying about President Trump’s executive order on energy independence.”
This is what it said:
Senator Shelly Moore Capito (W.Va)
With this executive order, President Trump has chosen to recklessly bury his head in the sand. Walking away from the Clean Power Plan and other climate initiatives, including critical resiliency projects is not just irresponsible – it’s irrational. Today’s executive order calls into question America’s credibility and our commitment to tackling the greatest environmental challenge of our lifetime. With the world watching, President Trump and Administrator [Scott] Pruitt have chosen to shirk our responsibility, disregard clear science and undo the significant progress our country has made to ensure we leave a better, more sustainable planet for generations to come.
The EPA scrambled about an hour later to fix the problem, releasing the same praiseworthy email minus the Carper comments with CORRECTION in the subject line.
An EPA representative apologized for the flub, according to Politico. Trump had continually called out to Capito using her first name to thank her for her support at the signing ceremony on Tuesday.
The Trump order rolls back former President Barack Obama’s climate change agenda, which the administration framed as a victory for the U.S. coal mining industry.
