South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham posed a rhetorical question to town hall meeting participants in New Hampshire, asking “what would the world be like if we had to rely less on fossil fuels coming from people who hate our guts?”
Later in the week, appearing in a video message before the Conservative Clean Energy Summit hosted by the Christian Coalition and Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, Graham called on conservatives to not cede leadership on clean energy and climate change to those on the left.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki continued to vocalize his ardent support for sound climate action, imploring the Republican Party to “embrace the science” and to have faith in American ingenuity to “solve the climate crisis.” Later in the week, he talked of his love of bird watching, admiration for Teddy Roosevelt and desire to leave the world better for future generations. “To the extent it’s consistent with a strong economy and a strong America, we should be taking steps to help the future generation deal with [climate change]” Pataki said.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio unveiled an energy plan that was heavy on fossil fuels, but silent on renewable energy and climate while criticizing candidates “who [believe] energy policy is more about trying to change the weather than empowering the people.”
Donald Trump took to Twitter to express his desire for warmer temperatures, tweeting: “It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!”
Carly Fiorina told rural Iowans, climate change “science is twisted in fact what’s being pushed is ideology.”
“Even all the scientists who agree that climate change is real and man made, also agree that a single nation acting alone can’t make any difference at all. And they all agree that with current technology, to make an infinitesimal difference would take a global effort, coordinated over three decades, and costing trillions of dollars. What are the chances of that happening? Zero. And yet, that part of the science is never described,” Fiorina said.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul introduced a Senate resolution that would require any agreement or accords coming out of the U.N. international climate change negotiations in December to be subject to consent and approval by the U.S. Senate. Currently, only treaties need the two-thirds approval of the upper chamber in order to be ratified.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took his campaign west to talk about his plans for relocating the U.S. Department of Interior and redirecting land management decision making to states and local governments.
“Maybe all the people freaking out about the climate change issue could bring their passion to bear to bring about better forest management, Bush said. “Has anyone measured the carbon emissions of massive forest fires?”