Climate Change Denier Lamar Smith Took a Congressional Trip to the Arctic
But even though Smith has made a reputation for himself as a man who does not believe in climate change, he apparently didn't let the question of whether he believes in any of the work climate scientists are doing stop him from visiting the Arctic to check out their research on the congressional dime.
Yep, that's right, the guy who has challenged climate science research findings, issued subpoenas in search of scientists' emails andrepeatedly tried to gut funding for research and make it against the law to keep the workings of said research confidential, went pretty far north to do some government oversight of the federally funded research currently being conducted at the Arctic Circle.
The tour, back in May, was organized by the National Science Foundation was billed as a congressional delegation, a bipartisan effort that has to be approved by either the Speaker of the House or a committee chairman. Smith approved this congressional delegation, comprised of at least eight House members, most of them on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. The week-long stay featured closed-door meetings between politicians and scientists where they could discuss research currently being conducted in the Arctic.
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“They were pretty clear that 10 years ago they didn’t have mosquitoes in the summer and now they do,” Representative Jerry McNerney, a Democrat on the committee who went along on Smith's Arctic adventure told Buzzfeed.
http://www.houstonpress.com/news/texas-republican-lamar-smith-climate-change-denier-led-congressional-delegation-to-arctic-circle-9615745
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