GOP Rep Denies Climate Change on Religious Grounds
The highest-ranking House official in charge of environmental and energy policy may soon be a Republican legislator who denies climate change on the grounds of his belief that nothing bad can come of the Earth unless it is preordained by God.
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce since 1997, submitted a letter to his colleagues earlier this week asking for their blessing in his campaign to assume the gavel when Republicans take control of the chamber.
Such a possibility is likely to be particularly worrying to climate change scientists and their supporters, especially considering a specific incident in which Shimkus appeared to wholly reject any potential for man-made climate consequences due to his faith that only God can "destroy this Earth."...