White House says no change in position on Paris climate agreement

The White House said Saturday it has not changed its position on the Paris climate accord and will withdraw from the agreement that President Trump has called unfair to the United States unless it can be re-negotiated.

The statement came in response to published reports by the Wall Street Journal and AFP that a top European climate official said the U.S. would “not re-negotiate the Paris Accord, but will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement."

The climate official, Miguel Arias Canete, was meeting with ministers from some 30 countries in Montreal on Saturday to push forward on implementing the Paris deal without the U.S.

The White House swiftly denied any change in its stance on the landmark deal. 

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement,” the White House said in a statement. “As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted: "Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms."

In June, Trump said the United States would begin the three-year process for withdrawing while simultaneously signaling he was willing to reconsider if the United States could get more favorable terms. 

“So we're getting out, but we will start to negotiate, and we’ll see if we can make a deal that’s fair,” Trump said.

Under the terms of the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, the earliest a nation can formally withdraw is November 2020 — the same month Trump faces re-election. But because the greenhouse gas reduction targets are largely voluntary, Trump said he would immediately "cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris Accord."

Many Republicans believe the Paris accord unfairly limits American job and economic growth with little concrete return. 

When Trump announced his pullout, European leaders quickly responded that the accord was "irreversible" and not open to re-negotiation. "We firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies," said a joint statement by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump has already made clear that he views the climate accord as an obstacle to his goal of creating jobs and ensuring energy independence. In March, he signed an executive order rolling back most of the Obama-era environmental regulations that the previous administration had used as a U.S. down payment toward its nationally determined contributions.

The decision made good on a Trump campaign promise to “cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.” But Trump has also been known to change his mind, as he did in April with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

By leaving open the possibility of re-entering the agreement, he ended up on the more moderate end of the range of options the White House had been exploring. They ranged from a re-negotiation within the existing framework to a U.S. withdrawal from the underlying United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a 1992 treaty adopted by every nation in the world that agreed on the need to address warming global temperatures.

Six dead at Florida nursing home that lost power during Hurricane Irma

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Six residents of a Florida nursing home that lost power during Hurricane Irma have died of heat-related causes following the loss of air conditioning during the outage, city and county officials said Wednesday.

Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez said another 115 patients were evacuated from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and the Larkin Community Hospital, including several in critical condition.

Sanchez said, without elaboration, that the deaths were heat-related and that his office had begun a criminal investigation. "We're not ruling anything out," he said. 

He said six people had died — three found in the facility early Wednesday, two pronounced dead at a hospital and one who died during the evacuation.

Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said the victims died from the lack of air conditioning after the storm knocked out electrical power for several days.

Irma fallout: St. Thomas, St. Martin could be off cruise schedules for weeks, maybe months

The victims were found inside the rehabilitation center and community hospital that are located in a medical complex surrounded by a larger children's hospital.

Health care workers walk down streets filled with emergency equipment near Memorial Regional Hospital after five people reportedly died and more than 100 were evacuated at The Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills because of intense heat and no power after Hurricane Irma. (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)

Sanchez did not answer questions regarding whether a generator was running inside the place.

People inside the facilities started calling 911 shortly after 4 a.m. on Tuesday, prompting emergency crews to rush to the two facilities. 

Raelin Lohse-Storey, a spokeswoman for the city of Hollywood, said emergency crews quickly decided they needed to get everyone out.

"Once we determined that we had multiple deaths at the facilities, and that the facilities are extremely hot, we made the decision to evacuate all of the patients," Lohse-Storey said. 

Satellite photos: Before and after images show Irma's devastating destruction in Florida and Caribbean

Jean Lindor, a kitchen worker, said through a Haitian Creole translator that the air conditioner had not been working since the storm and it had been hot inside.

Paulburn Bogle, a member of the housekeeping staff, said the place had been hot but manageable the past few days. The staff used fans, put cold towels and ice on the patients and gave them cold drinks.

Crews also began checking the status of the other 42 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the city. 

Relatives started showing up at the nursing home Wednesday afternoon trying to find out whether their loved ones were among the victims.

With the center surrounded by crime scene tape, they didn't know where to go. Police started escorting relatives behind the tape, walking them to a mobile command center set up across the street.

Gloria Flora Mitchell was looking for her sister, a 58-year-old stroke victim who can't talk.

"We don't know if she's there," she said. "We don't know nothing."

Hollywood Police direct people arriving on the scene asking questions about workers and loved ones near a building where 115 people were evacuated and up to 5 people died at The Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills Fla. due to intense heat and no power in the days following Hurricane Irma.  Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

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Contributing: Associated Press