PITTSBURG POST-GAZETTE: Since April, when his predecessor left, E. Christopher Abruzzo has been the acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Last Wednesday he had a routine confirmation hearing before a Senate committee, but one jarring note disturbed the routine.
Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democrat from Montgomery County, asked the nominee about climate change. He replied: “I have not read any scientific studies that would lead me to conclude that there are adverse impacts to human beings or to animals or to plant life at this small level of climate change. But I agree there are impacts.”
Mr. Leach declared this “odd” — but odd is the polite word for it. A day earlier, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report on climate change, affirming that its effects are already being felt… (more)
