Green groups rip potential pick for Trump environmental adviser

Environmental groups are criticizing a potential pick for top White House environmental adviser. Donald van der Vaart, the former secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, confirmed to The New York Times on Wednesday that he is being considered to lead the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). His consideration comes just weeks after the administration withdrew the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, a controversial former chairwoman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, who was criticized for past comments questioning climate change. Van der Vaart's potential nomination is already facing criticism from green groups. “While running North Carolina’s top environmental agency, van der Vaart opposed anything that got in the way of industry, including the EPA’s clean power and clean water initiatives,” Perrin de Jong, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement Thursday. “His well-documented anti-regulation, anti-wildlife, anti-science agenda makes him a perfect foot soldier to help Trump carry out his war on the environment.”...more