Martinez nominates global warming denier Schmitt to head state Energy and Minerals department
Submitted by J. Dyrcz on 6 January 2011 - 2:35pmFor Immediate Release Contact: Scott Forrester
January 6, 2011 505-934-5681
(ALBUQUERQUE) – In a clear sign that polluters in New Mexico will have free reign under her administration, Gov. Susana Martinez today nominated global warming denier and former astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt to head the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
On many occasions, Schmitt has scoffed at decades of sound scientific evidence and a mountain of research that validated the human causes of global climate change.
In one instance he told Fox News that the "CO2 scare is a red herring", that the "global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision-making."
“Martinez promised bold change and she’s bringing it in the form of an appointee at odds with the basic tenets of science and reason,” said DPNM Executive Director Scott Forrester. “This appointment is a clear signal to Martinez’s big-oil backers that the days of basic protections for New Mexicans’ air and drinking water are over.”
Martinez also recently fired the entire Environmental Improvement Board, paving the way for industrial polluters to have their way with New Mexico’s precious natural resources.
“Martinez has never said one word about how important it is to have clean air and water in our beautiful state and instead has spent her short time in office ripping down basic environmental protections for our citizens,” Forrester said. “These moves are either straight payback for her contributors or a blatant disregard for the importance of clean air and water – not only for the lives of New Mexicans, but for future economic development.” #####
He has said that "the CO2 scare is a red herring."[Is Global Warming Real? Climate debate heats up", [Fox Business Network interview by Stuart Varney, 22 December 2009]
"global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision-making," Schmitt said. [Ex-Astronaut: Global Warming Is Bunk, AP, 2/16/09]
Of the global warming debate, he said: "It's one of the few times you've seen a sizable portion of scientists who ought to be objective take a political position and it's coloring their objectivity." [Ex-Astronaut: Global Warming Is Bunk, AP, 2/16/09]
“I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect,” said Schmitt [Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt calls global warming a 'political tool', by Tony Hake, 2/16/09]
“Contrary to categorical statements by many politicians and unfortunately some scientists, including some colleagues of mine, the science of climate change and its causes is not settled - at least not to this geologist,” said Shimitt [Astronaut Harrison Schmitt: Climate change alarmists 'intentionally mislead', by Tony Hake, 3/1/09]
Schmitt said, “No definitive evidence therefore exists to support the hypothesis that the industrial revolution has driven carbon dioxide levels up more rapidly than otherwise expected as a response to long term temperature increases. No evidence likewise exists AGAINST the conclusion that variations in solar heating remain the overwhelming dominate driver of climate change and weather.” [Astronaut Harrison Schmitt: Climate change alarmists 'intentionally mislead', by Tony Hake, 3/1/09]
Where I live, the polluters all have Dem campaign signs in their yards and never, ever pick up their trash, have junk cars all over the place, and let their dogs run wild.
As usual the climate change people are so divorced from reality that they must blatantly lie about what they are proposing. If they got their way, energy would be so expensive that people would have to tear down forests to survive (think Haiti). So instead they point to the tiny bit of other pollution from the energy industry itself as if that matters.