Alabama
Sen. Richard Shelby "Important scientific research is ongoing, and there are still many questions that must be answered before we take steps to address this issue," Shelby wrote in 2015. "For example, is the climate change phenomenon cyclical or is it a function of man-made pollutants, or both? I believe the science must be firmly grounded before we take any actions that could seriously cripple many sectors of our economy." League of Conservation Voters score: 13% Rep. Robert Aderholt "I fall into the second group of people who believe, as do many very credible scientists, that the earth is currently in a natural warming cycle rather than a man-made climate change," Aderholt wrote in a 2009 op-ed. "Many scientists believe that natural cycles of warming and cooling have existed since the beginning of Earth. If we take the current models of climate prediction and apply those same models to what actually happened in the last thirty years, the models are shown to be very flawed. In addition, what knowledge we do have of a warming period in the Middle Ages cannot be explained by current models which are focused on greenhouse gas reductions." Spokespeople for Aderholt did not return INSIDER's request for comment, but his website states that he primarily supports expanding oil and natural gas production but is also open to renewable energy. League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Mo Brooks "What about erosion?" Brooks asked in a May 2018 hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, suggesting that rocks were causing rising sea levels rather than climate change. "Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now you've got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up." League of Conservation Voters score: 9% Rep. Gary Palmer "I am a firm believer in sound science," Palmer said in 2016. "There have been new findings that clearly show the science is not settled on climate change." In February, it was announced that Palmer would serve on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. League of Conservation Voters score: 1%
Apr 26, 2019
Alaska
Sen. Dan Sullivan "Alaska is on the front lines when it comes to changes in our climate, and with seven billion people on earth, humans will have an effect," Sullivan said in 2016. "However, despite what many climate change alarmists want us to believe, there is no general consensus on pinpointing the sole cause of global temperature trends." In July 2018, Sullivan acknowledged some effects of climate change in Alaska, including erosion on roads and over-acidification of the water seen in fisheries, but said there were increased "opportunities in the Arctic." "No doubt climate change is happening in Alaska...it's opening up opportunities in the Arctic, but it's also opening up significant challenges," Sullivan said on C-SPAN in 2018. League of Conservation Voters score: 7% Rep. Don Young "Alaska is the focal point in the global warming debate. I do not challenge that climate change is occurring, but the central question awaiting an answer is to what extent man-made emissions are responsible for this change. Contrary to popular opinion, that question remains unanswered. Those who claim otherwise perpetrate a tremendous disservice to science and society, and I am shocked by the continued marginalization of any dissenters," Young said on the current iteration of his website. Young also said in 2010, "I think this is the biggest scam since the Teapot Dome… Just be careful of the scam; Al Gore's biggest money-making machine in the world." League of Conservation Voters score: 8%
Arizona
Rep. Andy Biggs "I do not believe climate change is occurring," Biggs responded to a 2016 candidate survey from the Arizona Republic. "I do not think that humans have a significant impact on climate. The federal government should stop regulating and stomping on our economy and freedoms in the name of a discredited theory." "There are credible scientists who say climate change exists; we aren't sure why. There are credible scientists who say that," Biggs said at a town hall the next year. "There are credible scientists who say it doesn't." League of Conservation Voters score: 9% Rep. Paul Gosar "As the son of a geologist, our climate has always changed, and if you don't doubt me, dig up some fossils," Gosar said at a February 2019 press conference he held to announce his opposition of the Green New Deal, minimizing the importance of recent climate change. "It will tell you an awful lot about how our climate has changed." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Debbie Lesko When Lesko was asked at a January 2018 candidate debate about whether she believed in climate change, she said, "Is some of it, maybe, human-caused? Possibly. But certainly not the majority of it. I think it just goes through cycles and it has to do a lot with the sun. So no, I'm not a global warming proponent." League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. David Schweikert "I don't see the data," Schweikert said in a 2014 interview. "When you think about the complexity of a worldwide system, and the amount of data you'd have to capture… how do you adjust for a sunspot? How do you adjust for a hurricane, and this and that? I think it's incredibly arrogant, you know, for the Al Gores of the world to stand up and say the world's coming to an end." League of Conservation Voters score: 4%
Arkansas
Sen. Tom Cotton "The simple fact is that for the last 16 years the earth's temperature has not warmed," Cotton said at a 2014 energy panel. "That's the facts... Now, there's no doubt that the temperature has risen over the past 150, 200 years. It's most likely that human activity has contributed to some of that." Cotton has also been a vocal critic of the Green New Deal, accusing the media of being "complicit in the Stalin-like or '1984' technique of disappearing" issues with an early draft of the bill and criticizing Democratic lawmakers for pushing what he called a "radical vision for humanity." "They believe that Americans driving around in trucks on farms, or commuting from the suburbs where they can have a decent home into the city to work are a fundamental threat to the world, and they have to have the power and the control of those Americans' lives to implement their radical vision for humanity," Cotton said in February. League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Sen. John Boozman Boozman pushed back on scientific consensus in 2014, saying "no one has a monopoly on the facts." "We must ask whether these Obama administration policies are worth the lost jobs, lower take-home pay, higher gas and electricity prices, and so on," Boozman said, questioning policies designed to address climate change. League of Conservation Voters score: 7% Rep. Rick Crawford "There's not sound science to support some of the initiatives that the president, I think, is committed to," Crawford said in 2013 of President Obama. "We know that some of the research was faulty and it drove a lot of the agenda for a long time, and then it turned out there were some questions about the validity of that research. I don't see a lot of the green initiatives that are being talked about being supported by scientific data, but more supported by political agendas." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Bruce Westerman "I assume if climate's changing, it's changing in Arkansas, as well as other places," Westerman said at a 2017 hearing. "So I did a little research and found out the number of forest fires in Arkansas has actually decreased over the past 20 years. It's either held level or slightly decreased as our management has continued to increase. So apparently the climate change isn't affecting forest fires in my state. You would think even though it's a more moderate or temperate climate, if climate change was causing more fires we would see a lot more of them than what's in the baseline." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Steve Womack "The climate changes — it has throughout history," Womack said in October 2018. "The real debate is who or what is causing it." League of Conservation Voters score: 4%
California
Rep. Duncan Hunter "There is climate change," Hunter said in a 2014 candidate debate. "Is there human-caused climate change? I don't buy that." Hunter co-sponsored HR 3380 in 2016, a bill that would stop any federal action on addressing climate change. In March 2017, Hunter answered an audience question at a town hall about if he would dismantle the EPA by saying the agency had "destroyed American business." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Doug LaMalfa "I think there's a lot of bad science behind what people are calling global warming," LaMalfa said at a public meeting in 2017. League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Tom McClintock "The climate has been changing for four and a half billion years," McClintock said in a September 2018 candidate debate. "The extent to which human activity has a role to play is being hotly debated right now." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Devin Nunes "I mean no offense to the global warming prophets of doom, but I welcome more offshore energy exploration and want to see it move ahead quickly," Nunes said in 2017 blog. League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
Colorado
Sen. Cory Gardner "Well, I've said all along climate is changing… This is an important issue and I don't think you can say yes or no," Gardner said in 2014 debate. "I believe the climate is changing, but I disagree to the extent that's been in the news that man is changing—." Despite his more recent statements that acknowledge both climate change and the role of human activity, his past comments and record of support for Trump's environmental policies have still alarmed scientists and advocacy groups. League of Conservation Voters score: 10% Rep. Ken Buck In 2016, Buck reportedly called a military proposal to protect bases against flooding part of a "radical climate change agenda." In 2010, Buck praised Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma for trying to disprove climate change, saying at a campaign event that "Sen. Inhofe was the first person to stand up and say this global warming is the greatest hoax that has been perpetrated. The evidence just keeps supporting his view, and more and more people's view, of what's going on." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Doug Lamborn In 2013, Lamborn questioned climate science at a town hall meeting, saying there are "a lot of contentious facts and claims about global warming and whether it is man-made." Lamborn says on his website that he supports a "free-market, all-of-the-above approach" to energy policy that supports "new jobs, lower energy prices, and open[ing] up access to responsible energy development on public lands." He also praised President Trump for withdrawing from the Paris Climate deal and skewered The Green New Deal. League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Scott Tipton In a 2012 interview, Tipton argued that climate change was natural, saying, "Is there climate change? I live in the shadow of some of the greatest climate change the world has ever seen. It's called the Rocky Mountains. When the glaciers went back." "I think that we've got a role to play," Tipton said in 2017 when he was asked about humans' role in climate change. "We need to take advantage of new technology...We're all in concert in terms of making sure that it's done right, and the role that we as humans have to play is making sure that we are good stewards." League of Conservation Voters score: 7%
Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio "Sure the climate is changing, and one of the reasons is because the climate has always been changing," Rubio said in 2016 during a debate. "There has never been a time when the climate was not changing." In October 2018, Rubio said on CNN's "State of the Union" that "many scientists would debate the percentage of what is attributable to man versus normal fluctuations." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Neal Dunn "I am sure human activity plays some role, but I don't think the science is clear on how much is man-made and how much is natural," Dunn reportedly told a local paper in 2016. "What I do know is that the United States should not follow the path of the global warming alarmists like the Obama administration who wants us to unilaterally handicap... industry with over-burdensome EPA regulations." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Bill Posey Posey reportedly challenged other members of Congress during a 2017 hearing on carbon's societal impact, asking, "Can anyone on the panel give me a date certain, even a year certain, that there was absolutely no climate change on this planet since the forming of it?" League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Ted Yoho Yoho reportedly told a 2017 town hall crowd in Gainesville that he didn't believe humans caused climate change. In 2014, Yoho told ThinkProgress that he thought climate change was "a natural occurrence." He added, "I think there's an agenda-driven science. I can read stuff that says that the information was skewed. It's not right." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. John Rutherford "Climate was changing before we had carbon emissions," Rutherford said in 2016 interview with E&E News. "I need to be convinced how much of that is man and how much of it is just the global climate conditions." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart "It's more of a religion... on both sides of the issue," Diaz-Balart reportedly said in a 2017 interview with E&E News when asked about global warming. "I don't play that game, my issue is, 'alright, what is the problem that you're trying to solve?' and 'Does it solve it?'" League of Conservation Voters score: 11%
Georgia
Sen. David Perdue "The EPA is really overreaching and damaging entire industries," Perdue said in 2014. "We've got to get some common sense back in Washington — in science, there's an active debate going on." Perdue also reportedly said in 2015 that the "scientific community is not in total agreement about whether mankind has been a contributing factor." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Rick Allen Allen simply answered "No" to the 2014 debate question, "Do you believe manmade greenhouse gas emissions are a major source of climate change?" League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Jody Hice "It is a shame that because a scientist has reached a different conclusion on climate science than the liberal elite that the integrity of her research would be called into question," Hice said in 2015 in response to the House Natural Resources Committee weighing an appearance by a researcher who questioned human activity's role in climate change. League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Johnny Isakson "I believe the climate does change, but I don't believe climate change is a religion, I think it's science," Isakson said on the Senate floor in 2015. "And there are mixed reviews on that and there's mixed scientific evidence on that." League of Conservation Voters score: 9% Rep. Barry Loudermilk "For several years, the EPA and other government bureaucracies have been pushing out environmental regulations based on new scientific 'discoveries' relating to climate change," a press release from Loudermilk said in 2017. "However, the data on which these 'discoveries' are based have not been made available to the general scientific community for review or fact-checking." The release continued: "This has brought into question the overall motives of the EPA and other agencies who are demanding more environmental regulations. All regulatory decisions should be based on factual scientific information that is open and available for public viewing." League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Austin Scott Scott responded "absolutely," to a 2013 question from NPR that asked whether he doubted scientific consensus about man-made climate change. League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
Idaho
Rep. Mike Simpson "While scientists cannot explain the climate changes of the past few decades without including the effects of elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations resulting from the use of fossil fuels, there is widespread disagreement as to the magnitude of human influence on the climate and the degree to which any effort by humanity to reduce carbon output would slow or reverse the effects of climate change," an issue statement on Simpson's website says. League of Conservation Voters score: 8% Rep. Russ Fulcher According to The Associated Press, when Fulcher was asked about climate change in an October 2018 debate, he said he "believes 'in the cycle that's happened since the beginning of time," and said wildfires in Idaho and other states are a significant contributor of carbon emissions. "Don't be misled – if you take a look at this over the past thousand years, you'll see a cycle up, a cycle down," he said.
Illinois
Rep. Mike Bost Bost told a radio host who asked in 2014 if he believed in man-made climate change, "I don't. I don't know that I do, no… Some scientists do, some scientists don't." In a 2016 press release following a supreme court ruling halting President Obama's climate regulations, Bost said, "The President's climate agenda would kill jobs, increase costs, and decrease the reliability of our energy supply. If the Administration's rule [sic] War on Coal is successful, it will have devastating consequences for families across Southern Illinois – not just for those who work in the industry, but also for low income families who rely upon affordable sources of energy." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Rodney Davis "Global warming stopped 16 years ago," Davis said in 2012. In 2014, however, David appeared to show a change of heart, writing a candidate survey from The News-Gazette, "Climate change is certainly a reality. Many factors, both man-made and natural, contribute to changes in climate. We should all agree that reducing our dependence on foreign oil and cutting air pollution without doing economic harm to our citizens will benefit our national security, environment and public health." Despite his shift on climate change, Davis continued to advocate for coal-powered energy creation and natural gas extraction via fracking in a 2017 radio interview. League of Conservation Voters score: 6% Rep. John Shimkus "The earth will end only when God declares it is time to be over," Shimkus said in 2009. "Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood." Shimkus has since changed his tune, signing on to a March 2019 letter with the House Energy and Commerce Committee that reportedly stated: "prudent steps should be taken to address current and future climate risks." "It's just not worth the fight anymore," Shimkus told Fortune about his changing stance. "Let's just see what we can do to address it and not hurt the economy." League of Conservation Voters score: 6% Rep. Darin LaHood "The climate is changing and I believe humans play a role in that," LaHood reportedly said at a 2017 town hall. "There is no doubt about that. The question is, at whatever [sic] do they play a role? Is it 51 percent? Is it 35 percent? I am open-minded to listen to people who can give me a different view on that." League of Conservation Voters score: 0%
Indiana
Sen. Todd Young "My mind remains open about various scientific questions and so forth," Young said in a 2014 interview. " We're often told there's a consensus among scientists, and I've come to discover, as the number of scientists I talk to and the number of things I read, that's not necessarily the case." Young publicly hit back against the Green New Deal, writing on Twitter in March 2019 that its industry regulations would set "unattainable goals that are harmful to Hoosier farmers." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Jim Banks "I believe that climate change in this country is largely leftist propaganda to change the way Americans live and create more government obstruction and intrusion in our lives," Banks reportedly said at a 2016 candidate forum. League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Larry Bucshon Bucshon made headlines in 2014 when he said the science surrounding climate change wasn't settled, and rejected a fellow White House Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology member's suggestion to read the scientific literature on the issue because he wouldn't "believe it," and went on to blame scientists for seeking profits from the research. "Climatologists rely on the climate changing," Bucshon said, "to keep themselves publishing articles." In a change of stance, Bucshon responded to the 2017 National Climate Assessment, saying that "there is no doubt that mankind plays a part in accelerating the change of climate."
Iowa
Sen. Chuck Grassley When asked in 2009 if he believes emissions from human activity cause climate change, Grassley said "there's a massive amount of scientists that feel that it does...there's also an increasing number of scientists that have doubt about it." "Not being a scientist, I don't know exactly where to say only those things that are really quantifiable, and temperature has risen," Grassley said. "But the scientific aspect that I [sic] still reserving judgment on is the extent to which it's manmade or natural." Most recently, Grassley pushed back against the Green New Deal, calling it "a jumble of halfcocked policies that will dampen economic growth and hurt jobs." League of Conservation Voters score: 18% Sen. Joni Ernst "We know that our climate is changing," Ernst said in a 2018 CNN interview. "Our climate always changes, and we see those ebbs and flows through time." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Steve King "Everything that might result from a warmer planet is always bad in (environmentalists') analysis," King said in 2013. "There will be more photosynthesis going on if the Earth gets warmer… And if sea levels go up 4 or 6 inches, I don't know if we'd know that." King wrote on Twitter in 2015, "If Climate Change were 'settled science' and a 'fact based on data & sound science' protagonists would still be calling it Global Warming." League of Conservation Voters score: 4%
Kansas
Sen. Pat Roberts In 2010, Roberts reportedly said, "There's no question there's some global warming, but I'm not sure what it means." He continued, "A lot of this is condescending elitism." The Huffington Post reported that in a 2013 speech that included references to extreme weather across the country, including historic droughts, floods, and Hurricane Sandy, "Roberts, who receives poor ratings from environmental groups, avoided linking the natural disasters to any kind of human-generated climate change, suggesting Mother Nature simply has it in for America." "I don't know what we've done to Mother Nature, but she sure hasn't been very kind to us," Roberts reportedly said. The Senate Agriculture Committee chairman reportedly said in January 2019 that he would begin to look at policies addressing climate change to support new progress in agricultural research and technology. League of Conservation Voters score: 9%
Kentucky
Sen. Mitch McConnell "For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't," McConnell said in 2014. McConnell dismissed discussion over the Green New Deal, saying in February 2019 that he would force a vote on the "silly" proposal. "It's clear what we have here. It's the far-left's Santa Claus wish list dressed up to look like serious policy," McConnell said. "Bad ideas are nothing new… silly proposals come and go. But the philosophies and the ideas behind this textbook socialism are not just foolish. They're dangerous." League of Conservation Voters score: 7% Sen. Rand Paul Paul questioned the human role in climate change in a 2017 interview with CNN, saying: "I don't think we should be alarmist about this. I mean, the planet is 4.5 billion years old. We have gone through great extremes of climate change, natural and now we may have a man-made influence as well." League of Conservation Voters score: 8% Rep. James Comer "I do not believe in global warming," Comer said in 2015. "I'm the one person whose business and livelihood depends on Mother Nature, so I understand weather patterns. We've had a very severe winter this year with 12-inch snows, so there is no global warming." Comer also pushed back against the Green New Deal, saying in a statement on his website that the policies would harm farmers, small towns, and mining and rural communities with its policies that he wrote are "rooted in socialism." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Thomas Massie "I would challenge [President Obama] to show us the linkage — the undeniable linkage — between droughts and the change of weather, and some kind of human activity," Massie, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, said in 2013. Massie reportedly said in 2018 that "Climate change may not be due to humans… What is the cause and effect?" League of Conservation Voters score: 12%
Louisiana
Sen. Bill Cassidy "Global temperatures have not risen in 15 years," Cassidy said in 2015. At a 2017 town hall, however, Cassidy appeared to acknowledge that addressing greenhouse gasses was important but argued that investment in natural gas was the appropriate way forward. "If President Trump is successful in having industry move back to the United States, using our natural gas, renewables, and nuclear instead of China's coal, that will dramatically decrease global greenhouse gas emissions," he said. League of Conservation Voters score: 7% Rep. Clay Higgins Under the issue of "coastal erosion" on Higgins' website, he says "Louisiana's coast is eroding… but not because of oil companies." This contradicts prevailing scientific research. After his district faced a devastating amount of flooding in 2016, Higgins said on PBS that he supported "wise investments" in improving infrastructure, but rejected the suggestion that human activity significantly contributes to the changing climate and necessitates regulation. "I certainly do not disagree with the fact that climate change happens, but I do think that it's reasonable to question very carefully the science that has used models which have sometimes come under fire for being fraudulently manipulated in order to produce a result," Higgins said. "The very concept that we can fix climate change with some sort of tax is something I take seriously in having a debate about." League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Steve Scalise Scalise railed against Democrats' efforts at climate change policy in a 2014 interview, saying the focus is an "effort to prop up wave after wave of job-killing regulations that are leading to skyrocketing food and energy costs." Scalise also championed Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord in 2017, railing against the UN climate agency and praising the president for what he described as putting "American workers" first. League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
Maryland
Rep. Andy Harris "I believe the actual science is uncertain," Harris told The Star Democrat in 2013. He later reportedly expressed further doubt about the connection between human activity and climate change at a 2017 town hall. The Baltimore Sun reported in 2018 that Harris wrote to a constituent about the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, saying that "there are many different projections for the pace of climate change." League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
Michigan
Rep. Justin Amash "I think humans do and can impact the climate," Amash reportedly said at a 2017 town hall meeting. "The question then is to what extent and what do we do about it?" Rep. Bill Huizenga "Today's global warming doomsayers simply lack the scientific evidence to support their claims," Huizenga said in 2010. "A host of leaders in the scientific community have recognized that the argument for drastic anthropogenic global warming is no longer based on science, but is being driven by irrational fanaticism." A Michigan resident wrote in a 2017 article that she had received a letter from the representative in which he questioned "the extent to which reducing American emissions would impact climate change." Huizenga has also voted against carbon taxes and methane pollution regulation as recently as 2017. League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. John Moolenaar "I believe in sound science, in good science," Moolenaar said at a 2017 town hall before pushing back against EPA-backed research and policies. "I believe the federal government has an important role in funding good science. I also have seen how, sometimes, agencies like the EPA get off track in their mission and pursue... I believe science, science moves forward... when people challenge a theory." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Fred Upton "We've experienced climate change for a long time, highs and lows," Upton said in 2014 when asked if he thinks climate change is a problem. "We had the coldest winter ever last winter. There was a report out that the Great Lakes are six degrees below what they were a year ago. I don't know that climate scientists can really predict where we're headed." In February 2019, Upton co-authored an op-ed that championed lower emissions within the US and policies that "focus on American prosperity and technological capabilities while maintaining America's leadership in clean and renewable energy innovation." The article also pushed against the Green New Deal, saying "Americans deserve better." Upton joined the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in January 2018, where he said in a statement he was excited to "Pursuing an 'all-of-the-above' energy strategy that protects our environment, preserves our Great Lakes, and ensures energy stays affordable for Michigan families has always been a focus." League of Conservation Voters score: 26% Rep. Tim Walberg "I believe there's been climate change since the beginning of time," Walberg reportedly said at a 2017 town hall. "Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No...Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I'm confident that, if there's a real problem, he can take care of it." League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
Minnesota
Rep. Tom Emmer "Radical activists are trying to convince us that everyday nutrients are causing cancer, that cows are causing 'global warming,' and that hogs are getting people sick. Logical people know otherwise," Emmer said on his 2010 campaign website, according to The Grist. Emmer later praised President Donald Trump's 2017 repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which he called one of the "Obama Administration's harmful environmental regulations" that threatened American jobs. League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Collin Peterson (D) Collin Peterson is notably the only Democrat (DLF in Minnesota) to appear on this list. Politico reported in January 2019 that though House Agriculture Committee Chairman Peterson was feeling "some" pressure to pursue action on climate policy, but said climate change policy poses a threat to agricultural workers and he believes that activists "would like us to quit farming." In 2009 he explained away global warming, saying, "We've just had the biggest floods and coldest winters we've ever had. They're saying to us [that climate change is] going to be a big problem because it's going to be warmer than it usually is; my farmers are going to say that's a good thing since they'll be able to grow more corn." League of Conservation Voters score: 31%
Mississippi
Sen. Roger Wicker Wicker expressed doubt about established climate science in December 2018 statements according to E&E News, pointing to ongoing protests in France over fuel taxes as "instructive" to those pushing for further environmental regulations. "I'm just saying I think a lot of Americans may give lip service to doing something because it's been hammered into their heads that there is, in fact, something that can be done to reverse temperature rises," Wicker reportedly said. "But when it's translated into reality and you can't drive your car because gas is $7 a gallon, I think the general public in most of the western democracies is going to rise up and revolt." In 2015, Wicker was the only person who voted "no" on a bill reading "climate change is real and not a hoax." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Hyde-Smith has not specifically denied climate science but she has dodged questions asking whether or not she believes in it. During a November 2018 trip to a plant that produces materials like wood pellets, whose ability to provide carbon-neutral power is still contested, she avoided answering questions about climate change and alternative energy sources aside from saying alternatives are "very important." League of Conservation Voters score: 8%
Missouri
Sen. Roy Blunt "There isn't any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the earth," Blunt said in 2009. In 2015, Blunt introduced an amendment to the Senate that sought to nullify a previous climate change agreement between the United States and China to reduce carbon emissions. In a 2017 statement, Blunt praised President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement. League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Vicky Hartzler "Enjoying another beautiful global warming day in Missouri! Rep. Skelton and the UN Summit need to quit their dist. of wealth for a hoax," Hartzler wrote on Twitter in 2009. During a November 2014 cold snap, Hartzler tweeted "Global Warming strikes America! Brrr!" League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer "For far too long, American tax dollars have been sent to the United Nations to produce controversial science and feel-good conferences," Luetkemeyer wrote in 2015 in a statement on his website about a policy designed to block former President Obama's pledge to of $3 billion to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund. "I hope my legislation makes it to the floor quickly to ensure that no future taxpayer dollars are spent to advance the United Nations' global warming agenda." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Jason Smith "The EPA uses the Air, Climate and Energy [ACE] program to advance research and regulations that are geared toward a climate change agenda," Smith said in 2016. Smith mocked the science in a March 2019 tweet, writing alongside a photo of cows that "radicals in Washington with their Green New Deal think" that gas from cows causes climate change. League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Ann Wagner "The field of climate science is in its relative infancy and it appears that some within the public policy world have made dubious assessments of scientific information in order to further their own political agenda," Wagner said in 2013. "Our policy response to this dilemma should not be based on inconsistent and unsound science or driven by the fear of a supposed catastrophe." League of Conservation Voters score: 2%
Montana
Sen. Steve Daines "I think there's still reasonable debate here… I think the jury's still out, in my opinion," Daines said in a 2012 radio interview. "I've seen some very good data that says there are other contributing factors. We're certainly looking at the effect the sun has — the solar cycles — versus CO2 and greenhouse gases. I'm not convinced. I'm a skeptic on both sides." In a 2014 radio interview with the same station, Daines repeated himself, saying there is "significant debate here" and the "jury is still out" on the effects of phenomena like sun spots, solar cycles, and greenhouse gases. In a 2017 NBC interview, Daines supported withdrawing from the Paris Climate deal, saying, "Well, withdrawing from this unenforceable agreement is good news for Montanans. It would've raised utility rates for hardworking Montana families and cost Montana jobs. We all want clean water. We all want clean air, but this deal was a bad deal." League of Conservation Voters score: 4%
Nebraska
Sen. Deb Fischer A spokesman for the representative reportedly said in 2015 that Fischer, while she was a member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, "acknowledges that climate change is happening — it always has been and it always will be." However, in 2018, Fischer reportedly said the climate was changing and she would pursue policies to protect Nebraskans from its effects, including higher energy costs. League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Don Bacon "In regards to climate change, there is no doubt temperatures are changing," Bacon wrote on Twitter in April 2018. "We need to further study how much humans are responsible as opposed to natural causes, and from there take measures to protect our earth for future generations." League of Conservation Voters score: 6% Rep. Adrian Smith "Unfortunately, the Obama administration has issued unilateral climate change regulations that threaten economic growth," Smith said in 2016. "Earlier this year, I voted to block these very climate change regulations, and will continue to oppose efforts to force Nebraskans to suffer higher energy costs for negligible results." According to The Center for American Progress, Smith once told the Nebraska Citizen in 2005 that he didn't believe in global warming, saying the "facts" were in dispute. League of Conservation Voters score: 4%
Nevada
Rep. Mark Amodei "I do not believe it is appropriate for the federal government to advocate one position over another in discussions of climate change," a section labeled "Environment" reads on Amodei's website. "I do think that we should promote unbiased scientific research funded by both the government and the private sector to help answer climate change questions and bring effective solutions to any human causes." League of Conservation Voters score: 5%
New York
Rep. Lee Zeldin "It would be productive if we could get to what is real and what is not real," Zeldin said in 2014. "I'm not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as serious a problem as other people are." League of Conservation Voters score: 10%
North Carolina
Sen. Thom Tillis Tillis reportedly voted against a 2015 proposal that declared changing global temperatures were a result of human activity. "I think we have to come up with several strategies to recognize reality," Tillis said in a 2018 interview. "That climate changes. Sometimes it changes just because it has over millennia, and other times it changes because of human factors." League of Conservation Voters score: 7% Rep. Ted Budd Budd told the Greensboro News & Record in 2016 that "he does not see 'clear evidence' that man contributes to climate change." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Virginia Foxx According to the Center for Public Integrity, Rep. Virginia Foxx bemoaned during a 2011 floor debate that environmentalists "think that we, human beings, have more impact on the climate and the world than God does." She also reportedly referenced books by climate change skeptics. League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Mark Meadows At the 2014 Values Voters Summit, Meadows said, "How ridiculous is [sic] that when you have our fighting men and women, they get up and they say, 'man, it's a little chilly, maybe today is the day that we've got to worry about climate change.' It's just ridiculous." In a slight movement from his previous denial of climate science, Meadows told reporters in March 2019 that "there are some things I'm willing to look at," related to climate change. Though he didn't fully back climate science, he reportedly said, "I think that greenhouse gas emissions is certainly something that we need to look at." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. David Rouzer "You have some scientists saying it is significantly influenced by mankind," Rouzer told constituents at a March 2017 town hall. "You have some scientists say it is not influenced by mankind. Both are statements of fact." Rouzer, who represents several coastal areas and is in the crosshairs of environmental groups petitioning him to support the Green New Deal, doubled down on his hesitance, saying the "scientific community is split on climate science." "From a public policy perspective, when you're dealing with property values, tax bases, people's lives, public policy should be based on sound science," Rouzer said. "Not the opinion of this group of scientists or that group of scientists. It needs to be real concrete science where you absolutely know for certain. The scientific community is split on climate science." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Mark Walker "Much of the 'so-called' science of climate change is contested, though it's made a few politicians quite wealthy," Walker's website said in 2015. The next line remains on the site: "I believe that God provided the earth to us and we have a responsibility to conserve and respect the environment." In February, Walker posted a video to his Twitter comparing the Green New Deal to Fyre Festival. League of Conservation Voters score: 0%
North Dakota
Sen. Kevin Cramer In a 2013 recording reportedly obtained by Hill Heat, Cramer can be heard saying "These mandates and these wind farms are all based on this fraudulent science from the EPA, meaning their claim that CO2 is a pollutant and is causing global warming… So the idea that CO2 is somehow causing global warming is on its face fraudulent." "There's a broad swath of belief, anywhere from climate change is fake to worshipping climate change, and most Americans are somewhere in that broad middle. For me, it doesn't even matter," Cramer said in a 2017 CSPAN interview. That same year, Cramer wrote an op-ed discouraging Trump from leaving the Paris climate agreement. After Trump's repeal of the agreement, Cramer issued a statement supporting Trump's decision. League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Sen. John Hoeven Hoeven voted against his own 2015 amendment in the Senate that stated human-caused climate change is real but the Keystone XL pipeline would not have a significant impact on emissions. It failed by one vote. "Well, the science shows that there's warming," Hoeven previously said in 2010. "There's different opinions of exactly what's causing it." In a 2017 statement, Hoeven supported the withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement. League of Conservation Voters score: 8%
Ohio
Sen. Rob Portman In 2010, Portman told The Columbus Dispatch that he wasn't sure how much climate change was attributable to human-caused factors, saying "When you analyze all the data, there is a warming trend according to science. But the jury is out on the degree of how much is manmade." Recently, however, he has indicated that he believes that climate change is partly attributable to humans and worth acting on. The Sandusky Register reported in 2018 that Portman believes the Earth is warming and that it is partly due to humans. He has become a Republican advocate for a certain amount of action on climate change. "I'm willing to err on the side of saying that human involvement is part of it," Portman said. "I believe we know enough to know we have to do something. I believe there are some sensible things we can do that don't have a big negative economic impact." League of Conservation Voters score: 19% Rep. Steve Chabot "Despite claims to the contrary, the evidence concerning man-made climate change is far from conclusive," Chabot said in 2014. "However, what is conclusive is the damage some of the more extreme proposals intended to address climate change, like cap-and-trade, will have on our economy." In January 2019, Chabot dug into The Green New Deal on his blog, calling it "radical" and "reckless." League of Conservation Voters score: 12% Rep. Bob Gibbs The Kenyon Collegian reported that Gibbs said during a 2017 public meeting that "he did not believe there is a scientific consensus on whether or not humans affect the climate, which caused an uproar among the attendees." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Bill Johnson Johnson hit back at an article entitled "MSNBC's Chuck Todd Keeps 'Climate Deniers' Off His Hourlong Global Warming Special," in January 2019, writing on Facebook that the "issue here isn't so-called 'climate change,' but what happens the next time there is an issue Chuck Todd or other members of the media don't want to debate?" "Today, it's this, but tomorrow it could be the 2nd Amendment or immigration," Johnson continued. "Not giving the other side a say and refusing to hear opinions contrary to your own — that's being a real 'denier', and, it creates a chilling effect on public debate and free speech." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Warren Davidson Davidson set off concerns when he expressed doubt about the threat of climate change at an April 2017 town hall, noting "I'm not saying it's a total falsity and I'm not saying it's a certainty."
Oklahoma
Sen. Jim Inhofe Inhofe, who penned "The Greatest Hoax" about climate change famously brought a snowball onto the floor in February 2015 as a bid to disprove climate change. He later doubled down on his views in October 2018, pointing to "scriptural evidence" about the changing climate. "First of all, we've never argued, the climate has always been changing," he told the Stillwater News Press. "All evidence is there. We're talking about scriptural evidence, we're talking about scientific evidence … You can't argue with climate change because it's always been changing." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Sen. James Lankford Lankford reportedly railed against climate change science as a "myth" in a 2010 debate. "This whole global warming myth will be exposed as what it really is — a way of control more than anything else," Lankford said, according to the Edmond Sun. "And that generation will be ticked." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Kevin Hern The New York Times characterized Hern in a January 2019 reports as "the aerospace engineer elected in Oklahoma, [who] has questioned whether human activity is the primary cause of climate change." League of Conservation Voters score: 0%
Pennsylvania
Sen. Patrick Toomey "My view is: I think the data is pretty clear," Toomey said in 2010 radio interview. "There has been an increase in the surface temperature of the planet over the course of the last 100 years or so. I think it's clear that that has happened. The extent to which that has been caused by human activity I think is not as clear. I think that is still very much disputed and has been debated." Toomey was a vocal supporter of the 2017 withdrawal from the Paris Accord, saying in a statement through a spokesperson that it "would not have protected our environment and would have been particularly harmful to our economy and job creation." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Scott Perry "The climate's changing, without a doubt," Perry told PennLive in October 2018. "I think we contribute to it. I don't know exactly how, and that becomes the rub." The article added that Perry "went on to cite research that suggest [sic] global surface temperature data often used to corroborate climate change over time has been 'adjusted' to make the planet appear cooler in the past." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Glenn Thompson Thompson reportedly said at a 2017 town hall that he thought humans contributed to climate change, but added: "the amount that it contributes versus, compared to the natural evolving climate changes and perhaps are based on sunspot activity." League of Conservation Voters score: 5%
South Carolina
Rep. Jeff Duncan Duncan publicly rebuked a recommendation in the October 2018 International Governmental Panel on Climate Change report from the United Nations that urged world leaders to curb human-caused climate warming. "The climate alarmists continue to move the goalposts when their politically motivated projections do not come true," Duncan said of the report's projections for the climate's disastrous future if human activity didn't change. "What was predicted decades ago has yet to take place. We all know that global temperatures have changed throughout the generations, but we must not look to activist climate organizations to push a false agenda in an effort to upend parts of our economy." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Joe Wilson In 2012, Wilson answered "no" to a Vote Smart survey question asking whether or not respondents believed that "human activity is contributing to climate change." Wilson shared an article from The Daily Caller entitled "300 Scientists Want NOAA to Stop Hiding Its Global Warming Data" on Twitter in 2016, writing it was an "Interesting article about the 'facts' concerning climate change." League of Conservation Voters score: 2%
Tennessee
Sen. Marsha Blackburn "Of course you can be a believer in clean air and clean water and realize that when you work at global warming or climate change, as it is now popularly called, that it is cyclical and you have to look at it in terms of centuries, not in terms of decades," Blackburn said in a 2016 debate on CNN. "And the science around that is not a settled science." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Chuck Fleischmann "I think we ought to take Al Gore, put him on an iceberg, and put him way out there," Fleischmann said during a 2012 candidate debate after he was asked about his views on climate change. League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Phil Roe "Many believe greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to the gradual warming of our planet and changing of our climate," Roe said in 2011. "While there are many questions surrounding the science of the issue, it seems to me like we could develop a solution that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions without inflicting catastrophic damage on our economy." In a statement currently displayed on his website, Roe advocates for expanded drilling for oil on American lands, development of natural gas, and advances in coal-mining technology, all of which go against recommendations from federal agencies for developing clean, renewable energy. League of Conservation Voters score: 2%
Texas
Sen. John Cornyn In 2009, Cornyn publicly called for an investigation into NASA's research on global warming, writing in a letter of support, "Taxpayer funded research by NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) concerning the warmest years on record has been the subject of dispute and after challenges, has been changed and re-released… As we consider policies on climate change which will impact our quality of life and economy for decades to come, we must have confidence in the data used to make these determinations." The Dallas Morning News reported in 2014 that Cornyn admitted that the climate is changing and that it is due in part to human activity, but he is "not willing to put the federal government in charge of trying to micromanage the environment for the United States of America ... by putting restrictions in place that other nations are not." In a 2019 floor debate about The Green New Deal, Cornyn called the policy a "power grab." When asked by Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York if he believed in climate change, Cornyn responded, "I know what their talking points are now, but I don't believe that what we ought to do about the environment is impose a travesty like the Green New Deal." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Sen. Ted Cruz In a 2014 interview with CNN, Cruz directly challenged the idea of global warming, saying, "The last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming. Contrary to all the theories that they are expounding, there should have been warming over the last 15 years. It hasn't happened." "The climate has been changing from the dawn of time," Cruz said during an October 2018 debate. "The climate will change as long as we have a planet Earth." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Jodey Arrington The Abilene Reporter-News reported in 2016 that "Global warming has become a political thunderstorm. Mr. Arrington said the facts fall both ways, so he's not yet convinced." In a 2019 interview with Fox34, Arrington compared the Green New Deal to the policies of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, suggesting that it could lead to people "starving to death." League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Kevin Brady In 2014, Brady posted an article to his Facebook page from The Daily Caller that said data from NASA showed a "pause" in global climate warming in the past 10 to 15 years. Brady wrote above the article that he wondered "if proponents of 'climate change' consider a NASA climatologist worth listening to." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. John Carter "We may or may not even be in a warming cycle," Carter wrote in a statement on an un-dated page currently on his website. "Even if we are, scientific evidence does not conclude that activity by man plays any significant role." League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Lance Gooden "I don't deny the conclusions of the scientific community, but I take issue with those who claim to have all the answers," Gooden said in his answers for a 2017 voter guide from the Dallas Morning News. "Climate science is imprecise and so are the consequences of any legislative action we take to address the issue. We can never be so arrogant to believe we can predict with certainty the impacts that will follow specific regulations about emissions, not only for the environment but also for our economy." League of Conservation Voters score: N/A, Gooden took office in January 2019 Rep. Dan Crenshaw "We need to have a well-reasoned discussion and debate about what is causing climate change," Crenshaw said in a June 2018 Facebook Live feed. "We can't start off the conversation saying the climate is settled. The right way to have this conversation is to actually listen to what the science says on both sides." League of Conservation Voters score: N/A, Crenshaw took office in January 2019 Rep. Louie Gohmert "It seems like when you hear somebody say over and over again that climate change is our biggest problem, they don't know that climate has been changing a lot worse over all the millennia of mankind," Gohmert said in a 2016 Breitbart News Daily Radio clip before claiming warm temperatures in Greenland during the Viking Age prove climate change is a myth. At a February 2019 House Natural Resources panel, Gohmert disputed discussions around climate change as a whole and motioned to adjourn the meeting before the session began. The motion was passed by four other Republicans and condemned by Democratic Rep. TJ Cox of California, who called the motion an example of "systematic denial" displayed by Republicans. League of Conservation Voters score: 4% Rep. Michael McCaul In a 2018 speech, McCaul said climate change had "gotten completely politicized," and "the question is, are we going through a normal Earth cycle or is it — how much of this is man-made?" League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Pete Olson In a June 2017 statement responding to the United States' withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, Olson said: "I have long said that while I support clean air and clean water, any actions on climate change by the US need to be weighed against the science, the impact our reductions will have on a global scale and the economic impacts they will have here at home." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. John Ratcliffe "I do not support congressional action to reduce the output of greenhouse gasses. Many constituents of mine are surprised to know that greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are at two-decade lows," Ratcliffe said, pointing to natural gas as a possible solution energy policy in a 2018 candidate survey. League of Conservation Voters score: 0% Rep. Mac Thornberry "We need to be careful of what we say in the name of climate change," Thornberry said in 2016, according to the Hereford Brand. "It has become untethered from what the science really proves so far." Thornberry had previously questioned climate science in a 2011 USA Today op-ed. League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Randy Weber Weber said at a November 2017 hearing for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology that "the future is bright for geoengineering," but did not acknowledge existing recommendations for science to combat rising global temperatures, and instead touted "placement of mirrors in space" and "brightening the clouds overhead" that "could have a cooling effect on our lower atmosphere." League of Conservation Voters score: 2%
Utah
Sen. Mike Lee "There can be no dispute that the climate is changing," Lee said at a candidate debate in 2016. "Climates change. It's what they do. They always have, and they always will." In an argument with a reporter on Twitter over his past comments on climate change, Lee wrote, "'Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities' ≠ human activities are primary drivers of trends." League of Conservation Voters score: 8% Rep. Rob Bishop Bishop made headlines in March 2019 when he said the Green New Deal is "tantamount to genocide" for rural and Western communities. The House Natural Resources ranking member railed against the committee's focus on climate change in a fiery letter the same month, according to Politico. "The important question facing the Committee is not whether we are all going to die in 12 years if we continue to eat hamburgers. We won't," Bishop wrote. "We should be pursuing practical ways — within our jurisdiction — to reduce pollution and promise a healthier environment without decimating American families' checkbooks." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Chris Stewart Stewart wrote in a 2013 op-ed that "the science regarding climate change is anything but settled." The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog gave Stewart "Four Pinocchios" for "cherry-picking one survey" in an attempt to discredit the overwhelming consensus among climate science experts on human activity causing global warming. In praising Trump's 2017 withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, which he reportedly called "a feel-good measure that will have nearly zero benefit," Stewart said the measure would only reduce global temperature rise "by a mere .07 degree Fahrenheit" and cost $154 billion to the US economy per year and a trillion dollars globally." League of Conservation Voters score: 2%
Virginia
Rep. Morgan Griffith Griffith has previously pointed to a purported "global cooling" phenomenon and most recently shrugged off US policy to address climate change, saying it would be useless because of massive amounts of pollution from industrial activity elsewhere in the world. "What's happening is they're spewing all that into the atmosphere in Asia and other parts of the world that are still using coal and then what happens is that it floats through the atmosphere, we all share the same atmosphere," Griffith said in 2017. "So if you only look at the United States, if you take that position that we're just going to fix the US, we're not going to fix the rest of the world by doing that." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Rob Wittman "As a scientist myself, I recognize that the earth's climate is changing," Wittman said in 2013. "[But] cycles of heating and cooling have been going on well before man appeared on Earth." Despite repeated denials of human activity's role in climate change, Wittman acknowledged that something must be done about the consequences of climate change, like rising water levels and flooding, in 2017, saying that "what we have to do, is we have to look at adaptation... regardless of the causation behind it, we've got to look at what we do to adapt." League of Conservation Voters score: 11%
Washington
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers Spokane's Spokesman-Review reported in July 2018 that "McMorris Rodgers said she believes human activity is 'partially' responsible for global warming." When reached by INSIDER for comment on her current stance, McMorris said "Clearly, the climate is changing, and global industrial activity is a contributing factor. Humans must play a role in reducing carbon emissions and being good stewards of our natural resources." League of Conservation Voters score: 3%
West Virginia
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito "I don't necessarily think the climate's changing, no," Capito said when asked about the role of human activity in a 2014 candidate debate. Capito was later a vocal supporter of Trump's 2017 executive order on rolling back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, defending West Virginia's coal industry and affordable energy. League of Conservation Voters score: 17% Rep. David McKinley "I think only 4 percent of the CO2 emissions are anthropogenic," McKinley said on an energy panel in 2016. "Ninety-six percent is naturally occurring." League of Conservation Voters score: 6% Rep. Alex Mooney According to a local report of a 2014 candidate debate, Mooney "said the debate about man-made climate change belongs in the 'climate change community' but that debate is not resolved." Mooney was also a vocal critic of the Paris Climate Agreement, taking issue with its potential effects on the state's massive coal industry. League of Conservation Voters score: 1%
Wisconsin
Sen. Ron Johnson "The climate hasn't warmed in quite a few years," Johnson said on a radio show in 2016, despite record-setting temperatures that were documented in the two years prior. "That is proven scientifically." League of Conservation Voters score: 3% Rep. Sean Duffy "While the president was touting his global warming campaign this winter, Wisconsinites were experiencing record low temperatures coupled with record high heating costs — often up to four times their normal bill with no guarantee of supplies," Duffy wrote in a 2014 press release. Duffy was a vocal opponent to the Democrat-backed Green New Deal, saying in a March 2019 meeting that the policies are "elitist" and would hurt low-income and homeless people. "The Green New Deal is one that if you are a rich liberal from maybe New York or California," he said, "it sounds great because you can afford to retrofit your home or build a new home that has zero emissions, that is energy-efficient, affordable, and safe." League of Conservation Voters score: 2% Rep. Mike Gallagher "I believe we should be good stewards of the earth that God has given us and also be sensible and realistic about the ways in which we do that," Gallagher said in 2016. "Historically we know of two other periods of global warming, from 400BC to the time of Christ and from 1000 to 1400AD." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Glenn Grothman "I don't think the global temperatures have gone up very much over the last dozen or so years; I think if you look over a period of history, there are cold years and warm years and cold decades and warm decades and cold centuries and warm centuries," Grothman said at a 2017 town hall. "It seems to me that whenever something bad happens, they blame climate change. I do think, over time, we have droughts, all kinds of good things, bad things. I don't think we have enough information to spend billions or trillions of dollars." League of Conservation Voters score: 1% Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner "I think there is a man-made impact on climate change; there is a scientific consensus that is the case, but there is no scientific consensus on how much human action impacts the climate," Sensenbrenner said at a 2017 town hall. League of Conservation Voters score: 25%
Wyoming
Sen. John Barrasso "The climate is constantly changing," Barrasso said in 2014. "The role human activity plays is not known." In a December 2018 op-ed for the New York Times, Barrasso wrote that humans have a "responsibility to do something about" climate change, but dismissed taxes and global agreements, adding energy innovation was important but that the United States will continue to rely on fossil fuels and coal. League of Conservation Voters score: 8% Sen. Mike Enzi "I barely made it back here because of a May snowstorm in Wyoming," Enzi said in response to the 2014 White House climate assessment. "They got 18 inches in Cheyenne. It's a little hard to convince Wyoming people there's global warming. We have 186% of normal snow pack. That's global warming?" Enzi later dismissed a federal climate assessment report in November 2018 that said the country should expect more catastrophic weather events if lawmakers don't act to address climate change as a "piece of work," but said he was open to working for innovation in clean energy. "I'm for as clean of energy as we can get," he told Wyoming Public Media. "I'm a believer in innovation. I think that we're doing that. And that will solve things if we get cooperation with it, and it will keep the economy going." League of Conservation Voters score: 5% Rep. Liz Cheney "[The federal government's] assertions about climate change are based on junk science, Cheney said in 2016. "But even if you agree with what they are saying, the administration itself admits that the steps it's taking to kill our coal industry will have little or no impact overall on global temperatures." League of Conservation Voters score: 0%