Whatever their rationale—whether they’re numbskulls or fossil fuel marionettes—they are science deniers. And that’s true even if they don’t come right out and assert that climate change is a hoax, as retiring Sen. Jim “Snowball” Inhofe of Oklahoma went so far as to claim in a book on the subject. Inhofe is leaving the Senate in January, but he’s being replaced by Markwayne Mullin, who also doesn’t accept the scientific consensus on climate.
These days, “hoax” has mostly been replaced with some version of “the climate is always changing.” This subterfuge fails to acknowledge that scientists agree with this hoary truism but simultaneously warn that the speed with which the changes are coming is unprecedented since modern humans left Africa tens of thousands of years ago. Not to mention that the overwhelming majority of climatologists have concluded that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is causing this rapid change.
These days, you only get a few Congressmembers sneering that “God changes the climate,” as Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama did in October.
Or like Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia’s 9th district saying: “I will hold court with those scientists who don’t believe in man-made climate change. You know, we have four seasons of the year, the climate changes every year, four times.”
Or like Mark Alford of Missouri’s 4th district saying: “I feel President Biden—the first thing he did was to demonize fossil fuels and continue his march towards trying to get in line with the crazy, wacky, climate change people.”
At least a third of the Conservative Climate Caucus are climate science deniers, which rather subtracts from any credibility the caucus might otherwise have.
So how to decide whether the label fits? I referenced overlapping lists created by the Center for American Progress and Business Insider for previous Congresses. Since those lists were created, a handful of incumbent deniers have reassessed their positions, and are not included in my roster.
If a campaign website talks about energy without talking about the environment or mentioning climate, then suspicions of the candidate being a denier are reasonable. But that’s not enough to attach the label without some other less speculative assumption based on something they’ve said in an interview, committee hearing, or speech. One problem with tracking down all the deniers is that many local reporters don’t ask about climate issues at all, and few Republicans will bring up the subject on their own even on candidate questionnaires. I include as a denier any elected official who argues in favor of expanding oil and gas production while simultaneously calling for reducing the regulatory authority of the EPA or abolishing it altogether. Low rankings on the League of Conservation Voters congressional scorecard provides additional evidence of a tendency toward denial.
I’m not a single issue activist. Never have been. A broad range of issues matter to me. And I would never tell anyone that climate change should be their No. 1 political concern. But, for me, any member of Congress who doesn’t put the climate crisis among at least their Top 5 priorities counts at this late date as a denier no matter how much they claim to accept what scientists are telling us. Obviously they don’t truly accept it or they would be prioritizing and voting differently.
Not included on the roster are members whose denier-adjacent statements are ambiguous enough to give them a pass. Many Republican candidates, incumbents or not, also escape the list by simply avoiding mentioning climate altogether.
There are a multitude of those denier-adjacents in the current cycle, including Eric Burlison of Missouri’s 7th district, Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon’s 5th, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona’s 6th and Eli Crane of Arizona’s 7th, Anthony D’Esposito of New York’s 4th, Monica de la Cruz of Texas’s 15th, Brad Finstad of Minnesota’s 1st, Erin Houchin of Indiana’s 9th, Jen Kiggans of Virginia’s 2nd, and Anna Luna of Florida’s 13th. If you know of something one of these representatives-elect has said or done that makes their views on climate change clear, let me know in the comments.
In the roster below, Incumbents are marked with an asterisk. Just as in the past, in 2022 not all incumbents competed in the same-numbered district as they currently represent because of redistricting after the 2020 Census. The League of Conservation Voters’ (LCV) ranking is based on lawmakers’’ votes on selected environmental legislation during their entire service in Congress. Newly elected members obviously have no LCV ranking yet.
The House of Representatives CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIERS
(House League of Conservation Voters’ average: 57%)
Alabama—Robert Aderholt* (4th) LCV: 3%
Alabama—Dale Strong (5th)
Alabama—Gary Palmer* (6th) LCV: 1%
Arizona—Paul Gosar* (4th) LCV: 4%
Arizona—Andy Biggs* (5th) [LCV: 4%
Arizona—David Schweikert* (6th) [LCV: 7%
Arizona—Debbie Lesko* (8th) [LCV: 3%
Arkansas—Rick Crawford* (1st) LCV: 5%
Arkansas—Steve Womack* (3rd) LCV: 5%
Arkansas—Bruce Westerman* (4th) LCV: 4%
California—Doug LaMalfa* (1st) LCV: 2%
California—Tom McClintock* (4th) LCV: 4%
California—David Valadeo* (22nd) LCV: 7%
California—Kevin McCarthy* (23rd) LCV: 4%
California—Ken Calvert* (42nd) LCV: 7%
California—Darrell Issa* (48th) LCV: 4%
Colorado—Laurie Boebert* (3rd) [LCV: 0%
Colorado—Ken Buck* (4th) LCV: 3%
Colorado—Doug Lamborn* (5th) [LCV: 4%
Florida—Neal Dunn* (2nd) LCV: 6%
Florida—Kat Cammack* (3rd) LCV: 0%
Florida—Aaron Bean (4th)
Florida—John Rutherford* (5th) LCV: 8%
Florida—Cory Mills (7th)
Florida—Bill Posey* (8th) LCV: 7%
Florida—Daniel Webster* (11th) LCV: 6%
Florida—Laurel Lee (15th)
Florida—Mario Diaz-Balart* (26th) LCV: 13%
Georgia—Barry Loudermilk* (1st) LCV: 1%
Georgia—Rich McCormick (6th)
Georgia—Austin Scott* (8th) LCV: 4%
Georgia—Andrew Clyde* (9th) LCV: 0%
Georgia—Mike Collins (10th)
Georgia—Rick Allen* (12th) LCV: 1%
Georgia—Marjorie Taylor Green* (14th) LCV: 0%
Idaho—MIchael K. Simpson* (2nd) LCV: 6%
Idaho—Russ Fulcher* (1st) LCV: 10%
Illinois—Mike Bost* (12th) LCV: 7%
Illinois—Mary Miller* (15th) LCV: 0%
Illinois—Darin LaHood* (16th) LCV: 5%
Indiana—Rudy Yakym (2nd)
Indiana—Jim Banks* (3rd) LCV: 1%
Indiana—Larry Bucshon* (8th) LCV: 7%
Kentucky—James Comer Jr.* (1st) LCV: 6%
Kentucky—Thomas Massie* (4th) LCV: 10%
Louisiana—Steve Scalise* (1st) LCV: 4%
Louisiana—Clay Higgins* (3rd) LCV: 2%
Louisiana—Mike Johnson* (4th) LCV: 3%
Louisiana—Julia Letlow* (5th) LCV: 13%]
Maryland—Andrew Harris* (1st) LCV: 3%
Michigan—Bill Huizenga* (4th) LCV: 7%
Michigan—Tim Walberg* (5th) LCV: 4%
Michigan—Fred Upton* (6th) LCV: 29%
Michigan—John James (10th)
Minnesota—Tom Emmer* (6th) LCV: 5%
Minnesota—Pete Stauber* (8th) LCV: 18%
Missouri—Ann Wagner* (2nd) LCV: 6%
Missouri—Blaine Luetkemeyer* (3rd) LCV: 4%
Missouri—Mark Alford (4th)
Missouri—Jason Smith* (8th) LCV: 2%
Nebraska—Mike Flood* (1st)
Nebraska—Don Bacon* (2nd) LCV: 26%
Nebraska—Adrian Smith* (3rd) LCV: 9%
Nevada—Mark Amodei* (2nd) LCV: 8%
New York—Nick LaLota (1st)
New York—George Santos (3rd)
New York—Nick Langworthy (23rd)
North Carolina—Virginia Foxx* (5th) LCV: 4%
North Carolina—David Rouzer* (7th) LCV: 5%
North Carolina—Richard Hudson* (9th) LCV: 4%
North Carolina—Patrick McHenry* (10th) LCV: 6%
North Carolina—Chuck Edwards (11th)
North Dakota—Kelly Armstrong* LCV: 10%
Ohio—Bill Johnson* (6th) LCV: 5%
Ohio—Max Miller (7th)
Ohio—Warren Davidson* (8th) LCV: 4%
Ohio—Mike Carey (15th)
Oklahoma—Kevin Hern* (1st) LCV: 3%
Oklahoma—Josh Brecheen (2nd)
Oklahoma—Frank Lucas* (3rd) LCV: 5%
Pennsylvania—Scott Perry* (10th) LCV: 3%
Pennsylvania—John Joyce* (13th) LCV: 7%
Pennsylvania—Glenn Thompson* (15th) LCV: 6%
South Carolina—Joe Wilson* (2nd) LCV: 3%
South Carolina—Jeff Duncan* (3rd) LCV: 3%
Tennessee—Tim Burchett* (2nd) LCV: 7%
Tennessee—Chuck Fleischmann* (3rd) LCV: 4%
Tennessee—Andy Ogles (5th)
Texas—Dan Crenshaw* (2nd) LCV: 15%
Texas—Keith Self (3rd)
Texas—Lance Gooden* (5th) LCV: 3%
Texas—Morgan Luttrell (8th)
Texas—Michael McCaul* (10th) LCV: 8%
Texas—August Pluger* (11th) LCV: 0%
Texas—Randy Weber* (14th) LCV: 2%
Texas—Jodey Arrington* (19th) LCV: 1%
Texas—Chip Roy* (21st) LCV: 3%
Texas—Troy Nehls* (22nd) LCV: 4%
Texas—Michael C. Burgess* (26th) LCV: 4%
Texas—John Carter* (31st) LCV: 9%
Texas—Brian Babin* (36th) LCV: 2%
Utah—Chris Stewart* (2nd) LCV: 5%
Virginia—Rob Wittman* (1st) LCV: 11%
Virginia—H. Morgan Griffith* (9th) LCV: 6%
Washington—Cathy McMorris Rodgers* (5th) LCV: 5%
West Virginia—Carol Miller* (1st) LCV: 4%
West Virginia—Alex Mooney* (2nd) LCV: 11%
Wisconsin—Glenn Grothman* (6th) LCV: 4%
Wisconsin—Tom Tiffany* (7th) LCV: 3%
Wyoming—Harriet Hageman (at-large)
The Senate CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIERS
(Senate League of Conservation Voters’ Average 60%)
Alabama—Tommy Tuberville LCV: 6%
Alaska—Dan Sullivan* LCV: 12%
Arkansas—Tom Cotton* LCV: 6%; John Boozman* LCV: 9%
Florida—Marco Rubio* LCV: 7%; Rick Scott* LCV: 7%
Indiana—Todd Young* LCV: 7%; Mike Braun* LCV: 13%
Iowa—Joni Ernst* LCV: 8%; Chuck Grassley* LCV: 18%
Kansas—Roger Marshall* LCV: 6%; Jerry Moran* LCV: 9%
Kentucky—Mitch McConnell* LCV: 9%; Rand Paul* LCV: 9%
Louisiana—Bill Cassidy* LCV: 9%; John N. Kennedy* LCV: 6%
Mississippi—Roger Wicker* LCV: 7%; Cindy Hyde-Smith* LCV: 16%
Missouri—Eric Schmitt; Josh Hawley* LCV: 5%
Montana—Steve Daines LCV:
Nebraska—Deb Fischer* LCV: 8% (outgoing climate science-denier Gov. Pete Ricketts is likely to be appointed to the Senate seat being vacated by Ben Sasse next month)
North Carolina—Thom Tillis* LCV:13%; Tedd Budd LCV: 3%
North Dakota—John Hoeven* LCV: 11%; Kevin Cramer* LCV: 6%
Ohio—J.D. Vance
Oklahoma—James Lankford* LCV: 6%; Markwayne Mullin LCV: 2%
South Dakota—John Thune [LCV: ]
Tennessee—Marsha Blackburn* LCV: 3%; Bill Hagerty LCV 12%
Texas—Ted Cruz* LCV: 3%; John Cornyn* LCV: 7%
Utah—Mike Lee LCV: 8%
West Virginia—Shelly Moore Capito* LCV: 18%
Wisconsin—Ron Johnson* LCV: 7%
Wyoming—John Barrasso* LCV: 8%; Cynthia Lummis* LCV: 5%
••••
If you or your boss is on the list of deniers and think this is mistaken, I’m happy to make a change based on an official, unambiguous statement that human-caused climate change is real and must be addressed by sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Otherwise, save your breath.
