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GOP Congressman: ‘The Best Thing About The Earth Is If You Poke Holes In It Oil And Gas Come Out’

The planet we live on is valuable only as a repository for natural resources, according to Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX). Stockman, a lawmaker best known for bringing Ted Nugent to the State of the Union and opposing the Violence Against Women Act because it protected “change-gender” individuals, went on an extended Twitter rant Thursday afternoon accusing environmentalists of hating science.

His commentary included several dubious assertions about the planet:

https://twitter.com/SteveStockmanTX/status/314791823992311808

https://twitter.com/SteveStockmanTX/status/314802140470198272

The offshore drilling moratorium Stockman refers to largely does not cover the majority of federal land. The moratorium was originally imposed after a massive oil spill off of the coast of Santa Barbara caused three million gallons of oil to leak into the ocean.

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Most people probably believe the best thing about the Earth is that it has a stable biosphere and climate that sustains life — unique among all the planets we have observed. And while Stockman asserts that liberals hate science, he refers to the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change — something that could kill millions of people in the next two decades alone and ultimately destroy our livable climate — as “the new fad thing.”

Stockman’s number one source of corporate campaign donations in the 2012 election was the oil and gas industry.