Rep. John Shimkus: God Promised He Won't Flood the Earth Again

There are four Republican contenders for the top spot on the House committee that controls climate and energy policy, as the gavel changes hands at the end of the this year. None of them are good news for progress on the serious reforms necessary, but there are bad and and there are worse.

Let's review the wise words of the climate deniers slated to ascend the throne.

John Shimkus (Illinois): According to Politico, Shimkus is sticking by last year's comments that climate change is not a big deal problem. Why?  "I do believe in the Bible as the final word of God," Shimkus said. "And I do believe that God said the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood." (Need a reference, before you take rising seas off your worry list? That's a promise God made to Noah in Genesis 9:8.)  Should Shimkus win the prize, he intends to "really focus on science" surrounding climate change. Note: By science he actually means the opposite of science.

Joe Barton (Texas): "Smokey Joe" Barton was almost removed a minority leader of the committee after his infamous apology to BP this summer. That hasn't stopped him from mounting a dark horse campaign to continue on past his term limits for leadership. Barton, by the way, believes that global warming is natural and...natural is normal, right? "When it rains we find shelter. When it’s hot, we get shade. When it’s cold, we find a warm place to stay." Uhh, Joe...go tell that to the people on islands such as Micronesia or Manhattan.

Cliff Stearns (Florida): Hailing from a state that knows what it is to fear an oil spill, Stearns is a big pusher to expand offshore drilling, according to Think Progress. He has advocated drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, propagated the "global cooling" and "climate policy = economic doom" myths.

And lastly...

Fred Upton (Michigan): He is the front runner, as the most senior member of the committee. He is also the least reflexive right-wing of the bunch—he once co-sponsored a bill with a Democrat to phase-out incandescent light bulbs, which would save CO2 emissions. This was enough for him to be recently attacked by Rush Limbaugh, so that's at least one vote in his favor in my book. Still,  he is trending to anti-science behavior in his bid to head the committee and has said it is important for Congress to waste time on Congressional Climategate hearings, the trumped up science scandal that has already been investigated and debunked many too many times to track.

It is inevitable that some Republican will control Congress's climate policies. But there are already those gearing up to fight back against what is inevitably will be a wave of media coverage on the merits of this climate denier talking point or that oil industry shill.

There's the automated Twitter feed now programed to counter anti-global warming claims. And a group of scientists now launching anti-climate science counterattacks. Of course, many cities and states (if you don't count Texas, that is) are continuing to move forward with their own climate solutions, regardless of the circus ring about to open on Capitol Hill.

You can make your stand known by signing this petition to tell prospective Republican committee leaders to drop their ridiculous Climategate investigations. As we can see from Shimkus's statement above, what they will inevitably say at these hearings will only make them look even worse than they already do. So, really, it's for their own sake.

Photo credit: Sister 72 via Flickr

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