KLIMAWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to lead the department responsible for disaster recovery with climate change, has refused to accept federal climate money and has been criticized for his handling of a natural disaster.
Trump nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, at a time when damage from extreme weather is mounting. FEMA distributes billions in disaster relief each year and administers the nation’s largest insurer against floods – the most damaging disaster in the US.
But Noem has dismissed the idea that people are causing temperatures to rise.
About supporting science journalism
If you like this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you’re helping to ensure a future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas that shape our world.
In March 2022, a reporter asked him if he thought the climate was changing, Name the answer“I think the science has been mixed, and it hasn’t been proven to me that what we’re doing is affecting the climate.”
Noem, a Republican, is one of five governors who have refused to endorse him EPA planning aids The Biden administration has offered all states to fight climate pollution.
He is the only governor scrapping a new $4 billion Energy Department program that gives states money to hand out to their residents for rebates on energy-efficient appliances and home improvements. South Dakota’s share was $69 million, one of the highest per capita figures in the nation.
“That money would have been available to commercial contractors to install energy-efficient appliances, which would have reduced heating and cooling costs for people renting or buying these homes,” South Dakota state Sen. Linda Duba (D) said Tuesday. .
“We’re trying to keep costs down for individuals, so there was a huge opportunity there,” Duba added.
Ian Fury, spokesman for Noem, he said last year that the governor refused the bonus money, “because it is often tied to federal spending, and that more often than not is not good.”
Mention refused pollution aid because “we focus on solving long-term problems with one-time investments, rather than creating new government programs,” said Fury.
Nor did Noem claim most of the money that FEMA has made available to states through a grant program for resiliency projects.
FEMA provided $3.6 million to each state from 2021 to 2023. South Dakota collected just $1.3 million, FEMA records show. That’s one of the lowest collection rates of any state.
Noem has also sought minimal funding from a separate FEMA grant program that pays for flood damage reduction projects, FEMA records show.
He would be the eighth Homeland Security Secretary since the creation of the department after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Two of them were also governors – Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.
Noem is expected to focus on border and immigration issues if confirmed by the Senate. DHS includes Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Noem joined the legal attacks on climate programs
Noem’s skepticism about climate change stands in stark contrast to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, both currently serving under President Joe Biden. Both emphasized the enormous damage caused by the increase in hurricanes, forest fires and floods linked to climate change.
Trump has yet to name a FEMA administrator, which requires Senate confirmation, and is likely to wait until he selects his Cabinet and other top officials.
Noem, who has been governor since 2019, has come under fire for severe flooding in southeastern South Dakota in June when massive rains flooded streams, including the Big Sioux River. some local residents criticized Noem Not activating the South Dakota National Guard and flying to Tennessee during the floods to attend a Republican fundraiser.
When reporters asked Noem why he didn’t deploy the National Guard, he pointed to the cost and said he didn’t ask local officials, according to the South Dakota Searchlight. Fury, the spokeswoman, said at the time that county emergency managers handle local emergencies and accept requests from the state.
“Honestly, he was going back and forth across the state when all that rain was coming down, and his focus should have been here. He had to cancel all his press and stay here because the flooding was so bad,” said Democratic state Sen. Duba.
A few weeks after the flood, Biden asked him to mention Approve federal disaster aid for South Dakota. Biden approved the request, and FEMA has awarded $9.1 million to 1,100 residents for emergency expenses and minor home repairs.
Noem has experience with the FEMA disaster system. During his time in office, he has made 10 requests to the White House for FEMA assistance after natural disasters — five to Biden and five to Trump, who denied one request for insufficient damage. South Dakota has received a total of $142 million in FEMA aid under his leadership, agency records show.
In 2023, Noem hired Navigators Global, a Washington lobbying firm, to “make sure South Dakota is getting its fair share of all the taxpayer money they send to the federal government,” the lobbyist said. Cesar Conda said at the time.
Noem met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in early 2023. At the same time, his chief of staff, Mark Miller, met with Mitch Landrieu, then in the White House overseeing implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
While seeking support from the White House, Noem also attacked some of the Biden administration’s actions on climate change. He he joined 15 other Republican governors To protest the Securities and Exchange Commission’s move to require publicly traded companies to disclose the risks of climate change.
“Because climate change patterns vary dramatically, the notion of assessing investment risk based on these uncertain variables is inherently subjective and unreliable,” the governors wrote to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in 2022. The SEC rule is tied up in a court challenge.
Also mention got involved in a lawsuit To stop the Biden administration from putting a price on the “social cost” of carbon emissions, which agencies can use to write stronger climate rules. The case was dismissed.
– You’re fired!
A year after becoming governor, Noem gained national attention during the pandemic for insisting that state and local businesses stay open. He was the only governor Reject Trump’s offer additional unemployment benefit.
Noem described the pandemic and the response as a life-changing event.
“In 2020, dysfunction became dictatorship,” Noem wrote in his autobiography, “No Going Back,” published this year.
“The COVID-19 pandemic changed our country and it changed me. It nearly killed us, and I’m not talking about a virus. The majority of the American population was at great risk of being out of control,” Noem wrote.
“South Dakota,” he boasted, “was the only state in the nation that never closed a single business.”
Previously, as a member of Congress from 2011 to 2019, Noem had little to do with climate issues or disasters and focused on agriculture and the military.
Noem, 52, served in the South Dakota Legislature from 2007 to 2011 and grew up on a farm in the eastern part of the state.
In Noem’s “Not My First Rodeo,” published in 2022, he wrote, “If I had to describe my general political beliefs — and the political beliefs of my entire family and most of my neighbors — in one word, it would be : respect.
But Noem expressed a sharper edge in his newest book, “No Going Back.”
At the end, he lists the actions he would take as president on his first day. These include “close the border” and “build the wall and bring back the ‘Made in Mexico’ policy.”
Noem also said he would “hire John Kerry as climate czar to look him in the eye and say, ‘You’re screwed!’
Reprinted E&E News Courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
