With an educational background in humanities and religion, Kathleen Hartnett White proves that one does not need a scientific education in order to work with environmental policy. Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment, White is the top candidate to potentially run the Council on Environmental Quality.

Much to environmentalists’ chagrin and horror, White’s views on environmental protection and policy starkly oppose the proven data of human-caused global warming. White’s addition to the CEQ would undoubtedly cause an undoing of former President Obama’s goal of doubling renewable power by 2020 and a blatant rejection that climate change is an impending threat to public health and national security.

An ally to the fossil fuel and coal industry, her workplace, TPPF, has been funded by Koch Industries, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other energy companies. Her co-authored book, Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy, suggests that one should nostalgically appreciate the contributions fossil fuels have made, as opposed to seeking renewable energy sources or finding ways to prevent ecological damage.

According to an article by the Washington Examiner, White states that climate change arguments are, “Really a discussion about energy, not really a discussion about environmental protection.” White considers the EPA’s carbon dioxide’s regulations as overreach and “the killer for coal,” basically a regulation to be decided by the US Congress, not the experts at the EPA. She went as far as to advocate House Speaker Paul Ryan to pass a bill that would block the EPA from limiting carbon dioxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and other greenhouse gasses.

White has proposed to establish a blue ribbon commission to re-litigate climate science, emphasizing her belief that the hard data showing human-caused global warming is still up for debate. She states that she would develop an “alternative scientific methodology” to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Other candidates are also being considered for the position, but environmentalists sit uneasily as a White House spokesperson’s comment on the decision was, “We will let you know when we have an announcement.”