Audio By Carbonatix
Joe Barton, the Republican Congressman representing Arlington and its environs, has never been shy about expressing his skepticism about global warming. As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he launched an investigation into a pair of studies that documented a dramatic spike in global temperatures, sparred with Al Gore and recently referred to carbon dioxide as a life necessity, not a pollutant.
Even after 2012 clocked in as the hottest year on record and a scorched Texas suffered through a historic drought, Barton wouldn’t acknowledge the possibility that humans might have had something to do with it. And why would he? He’s got the Bible on his side.
At least, that’s what he indicated today during a hearing Wednesday. The bill would give Congress the authority to approve the Keystone pipeline, and as Buzzfeed reports, Barton took the opportunity to once again stake out his position against the mountain of scientific evidence indicating that human beings are heating up the planet.
He doesn’t deny that the climate’s changing. He just says there’s a “divergence of evidence” that leads him to the conclusion that it’s all natural. Ordained by God, even.
“I would point out that if you’re a believer in in the Bible, one would have to say the great flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.”
Keep in mind that this was well before Jesus ever turned those vessels of water into diesel or made a single lump of coal, not to mention his other, lesser known petroleum-related miracles. Also keep in mind that this man is elected to represent a million of you in D.C.
