MIT climate scientist Richard Lindzen slammed this week’s amendment introduced by Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders that would make it the official position of the Senate that man-made global warming is real and a threat.
Lindzen said Sanders’s amendment to a bill that approves the Keystone XL pipeline an “attempt to hijack science for political purposes.”
“Climate change is of course real; change being the normal state of affairs in climate,” Lindzen told Climate Depot. “Climate change has caused catastrophic problems on occasion throughout the earth’s history. While man may have contributed somewhat to climate change in recent years, his contribution to the above is highly questionable, and continues to be debated.”
“In the case of Bernie Sanders, a socialist, he is undoubtedly dreaming about nationalizing the energy industry,” Lindzen said. “For the U.S. Senate to accept guidance from Sanders’ bizarre dreams is ludicrous.”
Sanders introduced a bill that would recognize man-made global warming as part of the legislative battle over the Keystone XL pipeline. Only nine Democrats have sided with Republicans in supporting the pipeline’s approval while the rest have done all they can to slow down progress on the bill.
Sanders’s amendment is meant to throw a wrench in the process and target Republicans that liberal have labeled “climate deniers.” Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, however will allow the chamber to vote on the Sanders amendment and other Democratic amendments.
“Nobody is blocking any amendments except the senator from California, who is making us burn 30 hours to begin to have this bill up and open for amendments,” McConnell said, referring to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.
McConnell was eager to strike a deal with Democrats to end delays on putting the entire Keystone bill to a vote. A deal was struck shortly after McConnell’s comments, The Hill newspaper reports.
“We are not anxious to block anybody’s amendment, we are wide open. The Senate is out of practice here,” McConnell said.
If it were approved, Sanders’s bill says it’s “the sense of Congress that Congress is in agreement with the opinion of virtually the entire worldwide scientific community that— (1) climate change is real; (2) climate change is caused by human activities; (3) climate change has already caused devastating problems in the United States and around the world.”
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