Recent Newspaper Articles on Environmental Issues

President-elect Donald Trump claims he is “open minded” about climate change, despite calling it a “con job” in the past.

(EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump said he remains "open minded" on environmental issues, as questions about his views on climate change swirl after he appointed a climate change skeptic for a top cabinet post but met with activists like Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio.

"I'm very open minded. I'm still open minded, " Trump said on "Fox News Sunday" when asked for his position "on the environment."

But Trump also appeared to reveal his own doubts of the overwhelming science proving global warming.

"Nobody really knows. Look, I'm somebody that gets it and nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast, " he said, before delving into his view that other countries benefit from self-imposed U.S. environmental regulations.

"I do know this. Other countries are eating our lunch. If you look at what China's doing. If you look at what, I could name country after country. You look at what's happening in Mexico where our people are just, plants are being built and they don't wait 10 years to get an approval to build a plant, okay? They build it like the following day or the following week, " he said. "We can't let all of these permits that take forever to get stop our jobs."

In the past, Trump has called climate change a "con job" and a "hoax perpetrated by the Chinese." But in recent weeks, he's sat down with climate crusaders Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio and told The New York Times that "clean air is vitally important, " that "there is some connectivity" between humans and climate change and even suggested he'd keep "an open mind" about his previously made promises to withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.

In his interview with "Fox News Sunday, " Trump said he was still "studying" what to do about Paris, but added that he doesn't "want that agreement to put us at a competitive disadvantage with other countries."

Donald Trump promised he would have issues with construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline — which was halted earlier this month — taken care of quickly.

(STEPHANIE KEITH/REUTERS)

"And as you know, there are different times and different time limits on that agreement. I don't want that to give China, or other countries signing agreements an advantage over us, " he said.

And he punted on his position on the Dakota Access Pipeline — on which construction was halted earlier this month after intense protests — promising only that he'll "have it solved very quickly."

"I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying, something will happen, " he said when asked whether he would order construction restarted. "It'll be quick. I think it's very unfair. So, it'll start, one way or the other."

Trump selected Scott Pruitt, Attorney General of Oklahoma, as his Environmental Protection Agency head.

(BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)

Despite his conflicting comments on environmental issues, Trump's cabinet appointments appear to align with his previously held positions.

Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma Attorney General Trump selected as his Environmental Protection Agency head, has sued the EPA numerous times regarding limits on carbon emissions and has expressed doubt over the science proving climate change. He co-penned a National Review column earlier this year in which he said such science is "far from settled."