GOP Appoints Climate Change Denier To Head House Environment Subcomittee

The GOP has appointed climate change denier Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) to head the House Science subcommittee on the environment.

Schweikert will replace Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), who moved to the House Appropriations Committee. He said he plans to use his new post to target the Obama administration's regulatory agenda. "Too often, this Administration has tried to bypass Congress and impose its will on the American people through regulatory fiat,” Schweikert said Thursday in a statement, The Hill reported. “We have a responsibility to provide a check-and-balance to ensure there is fairness and openness in the process and that taxpayers are not being subjected to onerous and unnecessarily burdensome rules and regulations." A main component of the Obama administration's environmental work is new limits on power plants' greenhouse gas pollution. Schweikert has argued that the idea of man-made global warming may be "folklore."

Democrats react: "By putting a climate change denier in charge of a subcommittee on the environment, congressional Republicans are further cementing the fact that their only real priority is protecting special interests and their big oil backers." (Tipped by JMG reader Joe)