Political Quotes

“I am here once again, actually now for the 40th time, to urge my colleagues to wake up to the threat of climate change. I am very pleased to be joined today by our colleague Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who is a champion of renewable energy and energy efficiency. As Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor, he coauthored his State's net metering rule, which encourages renewable energy, and he led the design of the State's Renewable Energy Portfolio, which is on track to be No. 1 in the Nation. He has pushed commonsense ways to boost energy security and battle climate change, and it is no wonder he has been called Hawaii's ``Ambassador of Energy.'' We are here today in the wake of a hearing last week in the Committee on Environment and Public Works. The premise of that hearing was simple--``Climate Change: It's Happening Now.'' Disappointingly, again, allies of the fossil fuel industry attempted to discount or downplay that straightforward call to action. Of the climate scientists on hand, everyone--even the minority witnesses--agreed that carbon dioxide causes climate change. That is physics 101. And all but one agreed that climate change is a real problem. The only academic who did not, Dr. Roy Spencer, is affiliated with the industry-backed George C. Marshall Institute and the Heartland Institute. Regrettably, Dr. Spencer played a tried-and-true trick of the climate deniers: deselecting data that does not support your conclusions.…”