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Congressman Peddles Conspiracy Theory On Climate Change: Only ‘Radical Environmentalists’ Get Grants

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO)
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO)

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) believes that you can only get a grant to do science research if you “submit to the… orthodoxy of climate change by the radical environmentalists,” he told local Colorado radio station KOA on Wednesday.

Coffman has been the target of the League Of Conservation Voters — a group the host referred to as “an out of state operation” with ties to Ralph Nader — for his climate change denialism. Recently, the group bought $2 million worth of ads in his congressional race and others. In the interview, Coffman first asserted that 97 percent of scientists were wrong and that climate change is “naturally occurring” and “man-made activity influences out at the margins and I think it’s debatable how much that is.”

He then pushed his theory about grant funding:

One thing that I certainly read in, from, viable sources is that a lot of the research that’s being done, if you don’t, when you put your application in to get a grant, if you don’t submit to the, you know, orthodoxy of climate change by the radical environmentalists you’re not going to get a grant.

This theory was popularized by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a famed climate denier who alleged that the United Nations’ belief in climate change was motivated by its desire for grants. And it’s just one of many theories surrounding science and funding: Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) has lamented that, “President spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning.” Politifact rated this claim as “mostly false.”

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Coffman is just one target of the League Of Conservation Voters. Another, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), called the group’s effort to defeat climate deniers “environmental jihad.”

(HT: BigMedia.org)