Packard, Panetta blast Trump’s executive order on climate change

MONTEREY -- Julie Packard, the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said she was dismayed by President Donald Trump's executive order rolling back U.S. policies to combat global climate change, while Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, called it a "big step backwards."

"Monterey Bay Aquarium is dismayed by the actions included in the executive order," Packard said in a prepared statement. "The order represents a setback in U.S. leadership on climate change, the greatest environmental challenge of our time. Climate change and ocean acidification affect ocean health — and our own survival — in profound ways."

Panetta agrees the order, issued Tuesday, will set back the country and the world in the battle against climate change.

"The fact of the matter is that the president's order is a big step backwards in our effort to curb the effects of climate change," said Panetta in an email. "America could be a leader in renewable energy, and create good, sustainable jobs. Instead, politics is driving policy, and President Trump is trying to fulfill yet another harmful campaign promise. The administration needs to stop taking steps backwards when it comes to our carbon emissions and start taking steps forward to our coastlines, our jobs, and our future."

The executive order recasts the role the U.S. plays in fighting climate change and alters the government's approach to rising sea levels and temperatures — two impacts of climate change, according to published reports.

"The executive order rolls back existing federal policies that are critical to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, promoting clean-energy solutions and protecting our ocean, the heart of the planet's climate system. Now is the time to speed up, not reverse, the progress we've made in these areas," said Packard.

Trump has said the order will "eliminate federal overreach" and "start a new era of production and job creation."

"My action today is the latest in steps to grow American jobs," Trump said, adding his order is "ending the theft of prosperity."

But the aquarium's Packard stressed the U.S. should continue its leadership role in addressing the effects of climate change.

"Monterey Bay Aquarium will continue to advocate for science-based public policies to reduce the emission of heat-trapping gases and promote U.S. leadership in addressing the grave threats to society posed by climate change. We urge the U.S. to honor its commitments under the Paris Agreement.

"We are proud of the significant steps the state of California is taking to accelerate climate solutions and grow a clean-energy economy. We will continue to work with leaders in California, and other states and nations, to advance global climate action that is grounded in science," said Packard.