Republicans Steve Pearce (left, photo by Heath Haussamen) and Susana Martinez (courtesy photo)
Republicans Steve Pearce and Susana Martinez are among an emboldened chorus of GOP candidates across the nation expressing doubts about the link between manmade greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, according to an article published today by Politico.
That could lead to a more influential voting bloc in Washington of lawmakers who doubt that global warming is caused by human activity. It could make it even more difficult to pass energy bills sought by Democrats including New Mexico’s Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee.
Fresh off a trip to New Mexico in which he interviewed Pearce, who’s running for the 2nd Congressional District seat in Congress, and Martinez, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, Politico’s Darren Samuelsohn features them both as among those GOP candidates who are skeptical of or don’t believe global warming is caused by humans.
Many of the candidates, Politico reported, are “fueled by anti-Obama rhetoric and news articles purportedly showing scientists manipulating their own data.” From the article:
“Four independent reviews have concluded that the so-called ‘Climategate’ e-mails stolen last fall from a United Kingdom research unit showed nothing more than a frank discussion among scientists working through large and complicated sets of data. And while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has admitted it erred in its 2007 report by citing a report concluding Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035, the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. organization said the mistake didn’t undermine its larger body of work.”
Still, Pearce told Samuelsohn that climate scientists should be questioned more thoroughly because of the e-mails.
“I think we ought to take a look at whatever the group is that measures all this, the IPCC, they don’t even believe the crap,” Politico quoted Pearce as saying. “They’re the ones who say in the e-mails we’ve got to worry about this, keep these voices quiet. If they don’t believe it, why should the rest of be penalized in our standard of living for something that can’t be validated?”
Martinez is one of several Republican gubernatorial candidates expressing doubt about the science, telling Politico that she has doubts about the role human activity plays in global warming.
“I’m not sure the science completely supports that,” Politico quoted Martinez as saying.
Update, 9:15 a.m.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish is attacking Martinez for the comments she made to Politico. From Denish spokesman Chris Cervini:
“With each passing day, we are learning more and more about Susana Martinez and her true colors. Whether it is draining money from public schools through a voucher plan, using border security money to hand out fat bonuses to her top aides, or denying that global warming is human caused, New Mexicans are learning that Susana Martinez is just a typical Republican politician who doesn’t get it. There’s only one candidate who is on the side of New Mexico’s families and understands that a vital piece of New Mexico’s economic future is a strong investment in renewable energy and clean-energy jobs – and that’s Diane Denish.”