WH to Pull Nomination of Top Environmental Adviser

The White House late Saturday confirmed plans to withdraw the nomination of a climate change skeptic with ties to the fossil fuel industry to serve as President Donald Trump's top environmental adviser, NBC News reported.

Kathleen Hartnett White was announced last October as Trump's choice to chair the Council on Environmental Quality. She had served under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trump's energy secretary, for six years on a commission overseeing the state environmental agency.

White, who is not a scientist, has compared the work of mainstream climate scientists to "the dogmatic claims of ideologues and clerics." In a contentious Senate hearing last November, she defended past statements that particulate pollution released by burning fuels is not harmful unless one were to suck on a car's tailpipe.

The Washington Post first reported the plans late Saturday. A White House official later confirmed the Post report. The official was not authorized to discuss personnel decisions by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.