Based on his track record in Oklahoma, where he basically carried water for the oil and gas industries, many expect that new EPA chief Scott Pruitt will be hostile to initiatives to curb climate change.

His comments this morning reinforce that fear:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

“I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see ,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“But we don’t know that yet … We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis,” he added.

Pruitt’s view is at odds with the opinion of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The results of this appointment by Donald Trump will likely be devastating to the environment.

A “tune-up” was a procedure where the parts that were susceptible to wearing out were replaced and adjustments made. Drivers often did this on a regular basis many years ago. The systems involved were generally the fuel and ignition systems. Today tune-ups are obsolete. We sat down with the Service manager from East Hills Chevrolet of Roslyn, a full-service car dealer in Roslyn, NY to get the scoop!

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Let’s go back to the 1970s. You’re driving your Jeep CJ-5 and you’re about to go off-roading. First thing you have to do is engage the Jeep’s four-wheel drive. The procedure is such: you climb outside and twist those hard-to-turn locking hubs on the wheels. Then, get back inside the CJ-5 and pull the big floor-mounted 4WD lever back to get yourself four-wheeling.

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Expect the global warming issue to blow up again as the Obama Administration gears up to issue new EPA regulations. Conservatives have argued for years now that anything the US does is moot given China’s massive pollution problem. But as Jonathan Cohen points out, China is finally starting to move on these issues, as even hard-core dictators can be affected by choking pollution:

In recent years, the Chinese have imposed fuel mileage and appliance efficiency standards, similar in many respects to those in the U.S. Just this week, officials in Beijing announced that the government would be taking another 5 million aging cars off the nation’s road. China has also set up pilot versions of tradable pollution permits—in other words, “cap-and-trade” schemes—for various industries. Officials say they hope to make these nationwide soon. And one reason the Chinese government was so eager to sign that massive new deal with Russia, allowing the import of natural gas, was because it’s desperate to find alternatives to coal. “For a long time, opponents [of new regulations] said we’ll get hoodwinked, because China won’t do anything,” says David Doniger, director of the Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “That’s just not true.”

This is a positive development, and hopefully it continues. If China gets more serious about this, then it can give political cover to those around the world trying to put a lid on carbon emissions.

Cohen points out that any new EPA regulations can put further pressure on China to act.

Expect to hear plenty of noise about this over the coming months.

A carbon emissions tax is a huge long-shot in today’s political climate, but that’s not deterring former congressman Bob Inglis.