CLIMATEWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the department in charge of disaster recovery has been skeptical of climate change, declined to accept federal climate money and been criticized for her own handling of a natural catastrophe.
Trump named Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota on Tuesday to run the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency at a time when damage from extreme weather is soaring. FEMA distributes billions in disaster aid yearly and runs the country’s biggest insurer against flooding — the most damaging disaster in the U.S.
But Noem has dismissed the idea that people are causing temperatures to rise.
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Asked by a reporter in March 2022 if she believes the climate is changing, Noem replied, “I think the science has been varied on it, 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 declined to accept EPA planning grants that the Biden administration offered every state to address climate pollution.
She is the only governor to opt out of a new $4 billion Energy Department program that gives states money to distribute to their residents for rebates on energy-efficient home appliances and improvements. South Dakota’s share was $69 million, one of the largest amounts per capita in the nation.
“That money would have been available to commercial contractors to install energy-efficient appliances, which would lower heating and cooling costs for the individuals who are renting or buyers of those homes,” said South Dakota state Sen. Linda Duba (D) on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to drive down costs for individuals, so there was tremendous…
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