Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Science protections must be enforceable Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE on Tuesday said humans contribute to the changing climate "in some way."

"We know the climate's always changing. We know that humans contribute to it in some way," he said on Fox News.

"To what degree, to measure that with precision is very difficult, but we don't know is, are we in a situation where it's an existential threat."

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Pruitt also called for a debate on the issue.

"Bring scientists in, red team scientists, blue team scientists, have a discussion about the importance of this issue," he said.

"The American people deserve that type of objective, transparent discussion."

His comments come after Florida and Texas were recently hit with significant hurricanes. Recovery efforts in both of those states are ongoing.

Pruitt last week traveled to Houston to see Harvey cleanup efforts and survey work by environmental officials.

He said at the time that it was "insensitive" to discuss the role of climate change in the storm during recovery efforts.

The EPA chief and his staff have faced some criticism since Harvey hit late last month.

The agency was criticized for not immediately inspecting Superfund sites after Harvey hit. Officials also rolled back a chemical plant safety rule earlier this year designed to mitigate incidents like the plant explosion near Houston.