Nancy Pelosi: California Wildfires Are Happening Because ‘Mother Earth is Angry’
'Climate crisis is real and has an impact,' the Speaker said
© press
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the wildfires currently engulfing her home state of California are happening because “Mother Earth is angry."
During an appearance Thursday on MSNBC, Pelosi said:
"She’s telling us, whether she’s telling us with hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, fires in the West, whatever it is, that the climate crisis is real and has an impact.”
The network split the screen as Pelosi spoke with images on the left showing flames consuming homes and a “Children at Play” sign.
Another image showed San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper set amid the eerie orange sky in the Bay Area.
“Sixteen people have died in Washington, Oregon, and California, including a firefighter and 1-year-old baby,” Pelosi said during the same interview.
© press
The Associated Press reported Friday that California's death toll later rose to 19.
WATCH:
“Mother Earth is angry,” Speaker Pelosi says, discussing wildfires burning in California. “She’s telling us with hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, fires in the West, whatever it is...the climate crisis is real and has an impact.” pic.twitter.com/ulY4Vwh7AC
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 11, 2020
Meanwhile, the North Complex fire alone has accounted for at least 10 deaths in Northern California, with 16 other people unaccounted for, the AP reported.
The blaze burned an area of more than 4,800 square miles, equivalent to the area of Rhode Island, according to AP.
Washington has lost 1900 square miles to the flames, while Oregon saw more than 1,400 square miles burn.
President Donald Trump spoke with California Gov. Gavin Newsom “to express his condolences for the loss of life and reiterate the administration’s full support to help those on the front lines of the fires."
© press
Democrat Newsom sais he had a good working relationship with the White House in trying to obtain federal assistance for the state for dealing with wildfires
“I’d be lying to you to say that [Trump] hasn’t been responsive to our needs,” Newsom said in April.
“He has. And so, as a question, as a sort of an offer of objectivity, I have to acknowledge that publicly.”
Trump said earlier this year that California's wildfires had been sparked by deficiencies in forest management.
The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must “clean” his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2019
Pelosi said that climate policies needed to be “absolutely a priority” if Joe Biden defeats Trump in November.
