Three days before Christmas and Santa Claus may be shedding that heavy red overcoat while preparing his yearly trek from the North Pole. Why? It’s said to be just around freezing — some 30 degrees (Celsius) warmer than normal.

Climate change activists carry signs as they march during a protest in downtown on July 24, 2016, in Philadelphia, ahead of the start of the Democratic National Convention. (AP)

The reason? A freakish blast of warmer air, thanks to a powerful El Nino and the impact of man-made greenhouse gases. Scientists warn that unless climate change can be slowed, rare events like this will happen more often.

President-elect Donald Trump’s position on climate change has evolved. In 2012, he tweeted that climate change was “created by and for the Chinese.” Since then, he has been on both sides of the issue. After the election, he admitted there is “some connectivity” between human activity and climate change.

But the resumes of several of Trump’s selections for important administration posts signals the issues of climate change and energy policy may be subjected to the political winds.

Trump’s EPA Pick Spooks Liberals and the Environmental Lobby

Fred Barnes – The Weekly Standard

Scott Pruitt Attorney General of Oklahoma arrives to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 7, 2016. Trump announced Pruitt as his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. (Reuters)

Liberals and the environmental left have gone into a tizzy over the selection of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as Donald Trump’s pick to head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Calling Pruitt “a climate denier” is silly shorthand. Climate simply exists. Like many others, what Pruitt sees as a problem is the EPA’s desire for an upheaval in “the generation, transmission, and regulation of electricity” in favor of premature switch to wind, solar, and non-fossil sources to generate power.

Chris Warren at the American Energy Alliance says Pruitt “has been a champion for consumers and working-class families in Oklahoma. We know he will do the same for all Americans as EPA Administrator. AG Pruitt will reset energy and environmental policy in ways that will grow the economy, improve the environment, and make life better for the American people.”

An Enemy of the EPA to Head It

Editorial Board – The New York Times

Since becoming Oklahoma’s top legal officer in 2011, Mr. Pruitt has been a bitter opponent of the E.P.A., joining in one lawsuit after another to kill off federal environmental regulations….

Mr. Pruitt has repeatedly suggested that the science of climate change is far from settled, when in fact it is, and says that scientists continue to disagree about whether there is a relationship between human activity and rising atmospheric temperatures, which they don’t….

In much of what he has done, Mr. Pruitt has tended to the interests of the oil and gas industries, no surprise in Oklahoma, where oil and gas are important. But he has gone far beyond that.

In this March 9, 2016 file photo, the latest generation of SunPower solar panels are stacked in Positive Energy Solar’s warehouse in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP)

Setting the Record Straight on Scott Pruitt

Luther Strange – National Review

Climate change is not an excuse to silence political speech. Climate change is not an excuse for the EPA to ignore the bounds of law and issue illegal regulations that will cost jobs, shutter industries, and have little to no positive impact on the environment. Climate change is not an excuse for imposing one-size-fits-all regulations on the states, or for ignoring the unique concerns of citizens, businesses, and political leaders….

I have joined with Scott Pruitt and other attorneys general — Republicans and Democrats — to oppose the EPA when it oversteps its bounds. But suing the federal government isn’t easy or enjoyable, and it’s certainly not the best way to fix an agency that has gone far astray. The best way to do that is to put someone in office who understands the law, who cares about the mission of the agency, and who will use its vast power with restraint and in keeping with the laws that govern it.

An Open Letter from Scientists to President-Elect Trump on Climate Change

Michael D. Lemonick – Scientific American

Use part of your $1 trillion commitment to infrastructure development to expand democratized clean energy, boost U.S. competitiveness, and put America to work….

Assure (Americans) that the policies helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions, curb air and water pollution, and accelerate clean energy growth, innovation, and jobs – such as the Clean Power Plan, renewable energy tax credits, and auto-efficiency standards – will stay in place….

Publicly acknowledge that climate change is a real, human-caused, and urgent threat. If not, you will become the only government leader in the world to deny climate science.

President Trump and the Unnatural World

Robinson Meyer / David Biello – The Atlantic

Democrats Pay a Price for Being Green

Josh Kraushaar – National Journal

Let me of­fer a piece of un­so­li­cited ad­vice…Tak­ing a more mod­er­ate stand on en­ergy policy—wheth­er it’s sup­port­ing the Key­stone XL pipeline, cham­pi­on­ing the frack­ing boom that’s trans­form­ing re­gion­al eco­nom­ies, or simply sound­ing a more skep­tic­al note on the Obama ad­min­is­tra­tion’s litany of en­vir­on­ment­al regulations—would do wonders for the Democratic Party’s ability to compete for the working-class voters who have drifted away from the party.

If the GOP gains in the Mid­w­est were an an­om­aly, per­haps Demo­crats could af­ford to cater to their en­vir­on­ment­al base. But this wasn’t the first time that Demo­crats lost sig­ni­fic­ant ground in the re­gion….

The party’s ex­pos­ure is even great­er in 2018.