Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday became the latest target of an environmental group that has been filing an average of three lawsuits per month against the Trump administration.
The Center for Biological Diversity told Tillerson that he risks going to court if he continues to delay the submission of a climate study to the United Nations.
The group said not delivering the report, which the administration is obligated to do under the U.N. climate framework, would be “unprecedented” and would further erode the Trump’s administration’s standing on climate change.
“The U.S. is the chief culprit in the climate crisis, so its refusal to meet even bare minimum reporting requirements is morally reprehensible,” said Jean Su, the group’s associate conservation director. “In light of all the American lives and homes lost to superstorms and wildfires last year, the Trump administration’s inaction is especially disturbing.”
Other nations, including Russia, have submitted their reports while the U.S. has not, the group pointed out. The group reminded Tillerson that Trump’s goal of leaving the Paris accord does not mean the U.S. is no longer legally bound by the broader U.N. climate framework to submit reports on its greenhouse gas emissions.
Although President Trump announced last year he is withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement, the nation is still a member of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which supports the goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere to prevent “the most dangerous effects of climate change,” according to the group.
Parties in the treaty must submit reports periodically on greenhouse gas emissions inventories and action plans “consistent with this objective,” the group said.
But the State Department, which is charged with meeting the reporting requirements, has not submitted a plan to the Federal Register on when to expect the report.
The group said the U.S. typically spells out when to expect the report up to eight months before submitting it to the U.N. “If Tillerson continues to blow off this bedrock commitment to transparency, we will take him to court,” according to Su.
“Trump’s reckless decision to pull out of the Paris accord already made the U.S. a climate pariah,” he added. “Further eroding the world’s trust could shatter the global, unified front the climate emergency demands.”
The Environmental Protection Agency told the Washington Examiner last month that it was still on track to issue its annual greenhouse gas report on major emitters.
The EPA finalized rules in 2009 that require the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases from power plants, refineries, and other sources that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide per year in the U.S.
However, it has not been clear if the pressure would be on this year to keep the data coming, especially when the administration has been seeking to repeal climate regulations, and presidential and Republican budgets have been targeting the program for cuts.
Nevertheless, an EPA official confirmed the agency’s plans to begin collecting the data beginning near the end of February, with a hard deadline for all data to be submitted by March 31.
