Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said he is going to Washington, DC, this week to convince scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to come West to work on the state’s effort to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Picker said he wants to enlist “America’s top federal government scientists and experts” in his state’s efforts to fight climate change during a visit planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

Picker plans to distribute flyers in front of the U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) buildings advertising dozens of California job opportunities. Jobs also will be publicized through local news media, his office said.

The action by California’s top energy regulator comes less than a week after the Trump administration’s new EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, the former attorney general in Oklahoma, told a national news media outlet that he does not agree that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the largest contributor to GHG emissions. The statement raised the hackles of environmental organizations, which said it conflicts with information on the EPA website that CO2 “is theprimary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change…

“Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, release large amounts of CO2, causing concentrations in the atmosphere to rise.”

In California, the CPUC, California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission are all hiring dozens of staff for positions working on climate change, renewable energy, air quality, and clean energy research/development, among other opportunities, Picker said.

“On climate action there’s a dark cloud hanging over Washington [DC] right now,” Picker said, appealing to climate scientists and other experts who “want the opportunity to continue doing important work for the good of our planet.”

Picker said he will deliver a simple message: “Come West, California is hiring.”

On Wednesday he plans to distribute his flyers at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro subway stop adjacent to DOE (7:00-9:00 a.m. EDT), and on Thursday at the Federal Triangle Metro station (7:00-9:00 a.m. EDT) adjacent to EPA headquarters.