White House climate change meeting postponed

The White House has postponed a Tuesday meeting todiscuss whether the United States should withdraw from the landmarkinternational climate deal struck in Paris under the Obamaadministration.

• U.S. affirms commitment to Arctic climate change research

• Trump issues executive order rolling back Obama climate change policies

The White House said late Monday that the meeting would berescheduled. This is the second time a meeting of top aides on theissue has been delayed.

Donald Trump pledged during the presidential campaign torenegotiate the accord, but he has wavered on the issue sincewinning the presidency. His top officials have appeared dividedabout what to do about the deal, under which the United Statespledged to significantly reduce planet-warming carbon emissions inthe coming decade.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive ofthe oil company Exxon, said at his Senate confirmation hearing inJanuary that he supports staying in the deal. But EnvironmentalProtection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has said the Paris pact"is a bad deal for America" that will cost jobs.

Ivanka Trump, who serves as an adviser to her father, was supposed to meet separately Tuesday with Pruitt and Sen. LisaMurkowski, R-Alaska. That meeting is still expected to take place,according to a White House official who requested anonymity todiscuss private talks.

Tillerson heading to Alaska

The Paris accord, signed by nearly 200 nations in 2015, was neverratified by the Senate due to the staunch oppositions ofRepublicans. It therefore does not have the force of a bindingtreaty, and the United States could potentially withdraw from thedeal without legal penalty.

• 'Historic' Paris climate deal adopted

• Trump 'will definitely' pull out of Paris climate accord, says EPA transition leader

A senior administration official said the president's inclinationhas been to leave the pact, but Ivanka Trump set up a review processto make sure he received information from experts in the public andprivate sector before making a decision. The official requestedanonymity to discuss private conversations.

As speculation continues about how Trump will handle theagreement, Tillerson is set to travel to Alaska for an Arctic Summitcouncil this week amid concerns from other nations that the Trumpadministration will undermine global efforts to address climatechange in the Arctic, where rising temperatures are having adisproportionate effect.

David Balton, a top U.S. diplomat who works on environmentalissues, said there would be "no change" in U.S. participation evenif Trump ultimately decides to pull out of the Paris pact.

"The U.S. will remain engaged in the work that the ArcticCouncil does on climate change throughout," Balton said Monday.

Pruittrecuses himself

In his prior post as the elected attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt closely aligned himself with the needs of the state's oil and gas industry. He repeatedly sued the EPA over restrictions onextracting and burning fossil fuels. Among the regulations heopposed in court was the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which sought to place new restrictions on carbon emissions from coal-fired powerplants with the goal of helping the United States meet itscommitments under the Paris accord.

Like Trump, Pruitt has questioned the consensus of climatescientists that man-made carbon emissions are the primary driver ofglobal warming.

Over the weekend, the EPA administrator released a letter statingthat under federal ethics standards he is obligated to recusehimself from legal cases he was involved with in his old job.

However, in his letter Pruitt said his recusal does not extend tomatters of "general applicability," such as making policy
decisions involving current or future environmental regulations. TheEPA contends, therefore, there is no ethical issue with Pruittmaking decisions to roll back carbon limits he previously opposed in court, because those decisions affect the nation as a whole rather than just Oklahoma.

"Federal ethics rules distinguish between specific party matterssuch as an individual permit or lawsuit and matters that applygenerally such as a nationally applicable regulation," said Kevi Minoli, the EPA lawyer who advises Pruitt on ethics issues.

High-profile supporters of the deal on Monday urged the U.S. tostay in the Paris accord. In a conference call organized by theliberal Center for American Progress, Brian Deese, a climate adviserto former President Barack Obama, said that "the race is on for which countries are going to be the 21st century clean energysuper-powers."

Deese said the U.S. must decide whether to "continue to play inthat race or step off the field."

Mindy Lubber, president of the non-profit Ceres, which works withcompanies on sustainability issues, said that investors around theworld are "eager to open their wallets to a low-carbon future."

"We must stay in Paris, we must pass on a healthy economy and ahealthy environment to our children," Lubber said.