DEP Secretary Michael Krancer Clarifies Views on Climate Change

Marie Cusick Bio Recent Stories As the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania, Marie Cusick covers energy and environmental issues for public radio stations statewide. She’s also part of NPR’s energy and environment team, which coordinates coverage between the network and select member station reporters around the country. Her work frequently airs on NPR shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Since 2012, Marie has closely followed the political, social, environmental, and economic effects of Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom. Her work has been recognized at the regional and national levels– honors include a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Previously, Marie was a multimedia reporter for WMHT in Albany, New York and covered technology for the station’s statewide public affairs TV show, New York NOW. In 2018, she became StateImpact’s first FAA-licensed drone pilot.

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Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for–and in many cases is already affecting–a broad range of human and natural systems.

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer went before the House and Senate appropriations committees this week to discuss his agency’s budget, but he soon found himself pressed on the issue of climate change.At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Greg Vitali (D- Delaware County) pointedly asked Krancer whether or not he agreed with this statement from a National Academy of Sciences report

Krancer seemed reluctant to agree.

“It is a compound statement,” he said, “I’d have to study it and look at it myself.”

Later on in the hearing, Rep. Matt Bradford (D- Montgomery County) brought it up again.

“Climate change. Is it real?”

“Representative, I couldn’t be more clear,” Krancer replied, “the lowering of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions is a good thing.”

“You couldn’t be more opaque!” shouted Bradford.



After he spoke at Thursday’s Senate budget hearing, Krancer explained his position to StateImpact Pennsylvania.

“[Scientists have] concluded that the world is getting warmer,” he said, “They’ve also concluded that human activity contributes greenhouse gas and carbon emissions to the atmosphere. I agree with that.”

But he went on to express a sense of uncertainty.

“There is no uniformity within the scientific community on how much the warming is occurring,” said Krancer, “And there’s no agreement about how much is attributable to the human part of it and how much is attributable to other factors.”

But actually, there is wide agreement in the scientific community.

The most widely cited and broadest scientific consensus comes from a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which found:

Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations

Bob Henson is a meteorologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who writes about climate change. He says the uncertainty in the scientific community comes from what the future holds.

But assuming a doubling of carbon emissions (which we are on track for) climate models predict the globe will warm somewhere between 3 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century.

“It’s not yet clear how quickly the climate will warm,” says Henson, “Both ends of the range are substantial warming by late century.”

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