The US Chamber of Commerce’s controversial request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put on trial the scientific evidence for the role of humans in causing climate change has prompted several chamber members to leave the organisation, and highlights the complexity of the climate change debate in the US.

In a formal submission, the chamber states that the EPA’s position on the adverse impact of climate change on public health and welfare is “undocumented and in the chamber’s view, insupportable”.

This position prompted Apple and three major utility companies to leave the chamber including Chicago-based Exelon – the US’s largest nuclear generator – and California natural gas and electric utility giant PG&E. In a letter to the chamber, PG&E chief executive Peter Darbee says: “[The chamber] neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming is compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored.”

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