Politics & Government
Rep. Issa Responds to Climate Change Denier 'Award'
League of Conservation Voters groups castigate Issa's "extreme anti-science views." He represents northern San Diego and southern Orange County cities.
Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Rep. Issa responded to a Patch query, with the following statement:
“This political gathering isn’t being done to support science, it is being staged by barackobama.com and is intended to promote President Obama’s radical campaign to raise energy costs that will kill Americans jobs. President Obama has already told Americans that under his plan, ‘electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket ’ and his first Energy Secretary declared that, ‘we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.’
Rep. Issa has long recognized that our climate is changing – it’s his support for expanding domestic energy production and his steadfast opposition to the President’s radical plans to raise energy costs that are the real issue.
Congressman Issa supports a balanced approach that provides the clean domestic energy America needs without raising our energy rates or putting Americans out of work.”
Hill also provided Patch with figures on why Issa voted against cap-and-trade:
- According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the President’s 2009 cap-and-trade proposal would cost the average American household an extra $1,600 per year.
- Cap-and-trade could increase the price for a gallon of gasoline between $0.61 and $2.53.
- Cap-and-trade could increase the cost of electricity by 44% to 129%
Original story:
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been "honored" with a "Climate Change Denier" award by League of Conservation Voters.
In a statement Tuesday, the national, state and San Diego chapters of the group said Republican Issa was being recognized for "his extreme anti-science views, which put him at odds with 97 percent of scientists and a majority of the American people."
The facetious honor was bestowed on Issa, who represents California's 49th Congressional District, as part of a national day of action to hold climate change deniers accountable.
“As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Congressman Issa is not only denying climate change, but also actively impeding federal action, pledging to hold hearings on the ‘Politicization of Science,’ and calling for greater oversight of the EPA’s regulations of greenhouse gases,” said Livia Borak, president of the San Diego League of Conservation Voters.
“Issa voted against cap and trade and for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Even in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, he continued to deny an increase greenhouse gas emissions and manmade climate change.”
In a report released last week, the California Environmental Protection Agency said climate change was having a significant and measurable impact on California’s environment, from the Pacific Coast to the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada mountains.
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The effects include decreasing spring snow runoff, rising sea levels along the California coast, shrinking glaciers, increasing wildfires, warming lakes and ocean waters, and the gradual migration of many plants and animals to higher elevations, environmentalists say.
The conservation voters groups also pointed to a quote on Issa's website, which Patch was unable to confirm:
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“One of the difficulties in examining the issue of the climate change and greenhouse gases is that there is a wide range of scientific opinion on this issue and the science community does not agree to the extent of the problem or the critical threshold of when this problem is truly catastrophic.”
Issa's office did not immediately respond to Patch requests for comment.
Issa's district includes Carlsbad, Encinitas, Vista, Oceanside, Del Mar, Camp Pendleton, Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County, and San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Coto de Caza and Ladera Ranch in Orange County.
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