COMMENTARY | Rick Santorum was able to break away from the logjam in Mississippi and Alabama to take both states, and the momentum away from Mitt Romney while topping Newt Gingrich in his backyard. He did so with a last-minute scathing attack on climate change and global warming theories. But is really as anti-environment as he sounded on primary day?
According to Dylan Stableford with The Ticket, Rick Santorum castigated the current climate science at a Gulf Coast Energy Summit in Biloxi, Miss. He made headlines by saying, "The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant," which conjured up the Ronald Reagan line about trees causing pollution, mentioned in that HBO Film "Game Change," in case we had forgotten.
He also accused his opponents, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, of flip-flopping on global warming and climate change, focusing more on the political climate. In addition to calling global warming a hoax and criticizing Barack Obama's environmental positions, he also said that only he had been consistent on opposing environmentalism. But is that really the case?
Santorum does have a zero ranking on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard, for votes on oil and gas smokestacks in mercury regulations, supporting Bush's nominee for Secretary of the Interior, and other votes on roads in forests and fish habitats. They even named him one of the "dirty dozen" in 2006, targeting him for defeat in his reelection bid.
But is Santorum really some kind of evil "Onceler" from the Lorax cartoon? In his book "It Takes A Family," Sen. Santorum writes on page 217 "[Environmental Impact Statements] are a sight to behold: realms of scientific data and analysis documenting, or speculating, about environmental effects of a dam across a small stream or a stretch of highway through a wetland. Every variable is measured, every animal habitat mapped, all in an effort to determine the potentially negative side effects of a construction project."
Santorum goes on: "And while they are costly and while they may easily be abused as a mere tool to stop a development project altogether, they do reflect a true insight: namely, that nature is a subtle web of intricate organic connections, and even small changes in an ecosystem can have large and unintended negative effects downstream. Some call it the 'butterfly effect': the mere flapping of a butterfly's wings may contribute to causing a hurricane. Trying to look ahead to what might be lost is simply prudent."
Clearly, Santorum recognizes the importance of impacts upon the environment, as well as how labeling global warming a hoax can snag him some Southern votes by flip-flopping to some degree. Now that's a real climate change.