Seattle – Today at 1:30 p.m., the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on State Senator Doug Ericksen’s bill SB 6173 “prohibiting rules and policies that limit greenhouse gas emissions.”

 

Ericksen, who is largely bankrolled by big oil, refuses to accept that climate change exists, and supports Donald Trump for President, has used his committee chairmanship to further his extreme agenda on behalf of big polluters.

 

But that’s not all. Nearly the entire Senate Republican caucus agrees with him. All but one Senate Republican voted against the statement that humans contribute to climate change.

 

“When big oil asks Doug Ericksen to jump, his only question is ‘how high?'” said Jamal Raad, Washington State Democrats Communications Director. “Instead of engaging in a discussion with Democrats on making sure there are teachers in our classrooms or there’s sufficient treatment for the mentally ill, the Republicans are focused on hyper-political attacks such as this bill that would devastate the state’s ability to tackle climate change.”

 

Washington State Senate Republicans Deny Climate Change Exists

 

  • Seattle Times Editorial: “Republicans Resisting The Science On Humankind’s Clear Role In Reshaping Our Global Climate.” In March 2015, The Seattle Times editorial board wrote: “The state Senate this week had a brief but telling debate about climate change. It ended, depressingly, with a mostly party-line vote that very well could have taken place years earlier, with Republicans resisting the science on humankind’s clear role in reshaping our global climate.” [Seattle Times, 3/12/15]
     

  • All But One Senate Republican Voted Against Statement That Humans Contribute To Climate Change. According to Seattle Times: “In the end every Republican senator but one voted against the statement that “human activity significantly contributes to climate change.” They replaced it with “human activity may contribute” to climate change.” [Seattle Times, 3/10/15]

 

Senate Republicans Put A Climate Denier And Trump Supporter In Charge Of Senate Committee On The Environment

 

  • Republican Senator Doug Ericksen “Doubts That Climate Change Is Occurring”. The Seattle Times wrote: “Ericksen has said he has doubts that climate change is occurring. His panel stripped language out of Inslee’s bill that talked about problems associated with climate change.” [Seattle Times, 3/27/13]
     

  • Republican Senator Doug Ericksen Invited A Climate Change Denier To Testify In His Committee. According to The Seattle Times, “And on Tuesday, [Ericksen’s] committee hosted a global warming skeptic who testified for more than an hour that the country was being misled, noting at one point: “CO2 cannot possibly cause global warming. The reason is because there is so little of it. It is a trace gas … If you double nothing you still have nothing.”” [Seattle Times, 3/27/13]
     

  • Republican Senator Doug Ericksen Believes “Trump Would Do A Good Job” As President And “If I Had To Vote Today I’d Vote Trump.” In a Facebook post, Senator Doug Ericksen wrote: “And if I had to vote today I would vote Trump.” He later wrote on Facebook: “Based upon what I have seen to date I believe that the odds would be better that Trump would do good job.” [Doug Ericksen Facebook, 1/2/16, 1/9/16]
     

  • Republican Presidential Front Runner Donald Trump Believes Global Warming Is A Chinese Hoax. In November 2012, Donald Trump tweeted: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” [Donald Trump Twitter, 12/6/12]

 

Senator Andy Hill On Climate Change

 

  • Republican Senator Andy Hill Said He Hasn’t “Looked At The Data” On Climate Change. In September 2014, The Seattle Times quoted Hill on climate change: “You’re talking about very different data sets. You can find scientists on either side of the issue,” said Hill, who acknowledged he hasn’t “looked at the data.”” [Seattle Times, 9/11/14]
     

  • Republican Senator Andy Hill Called Climate Change A “Very Partisan Thing, Hair On Fire.” In September 2014, The Seattle Times wrote: “Take state Sen. Andy Hill, a moderate Republican from Redmond, former Microsoft manager, Harvard MBA and lead Senate budget writer. “Climate change — very partisan thing, hair on fire,” said Hill.” [Seattle Times, 9/11/14]

 

Republican Senator Brian Dansel On Climate Change

 

  • Republican Vice-Chair Of The Senate Natural Resources Committee Argued That Humans Are Causing Climate Change Because We Aren’t Logging Fast Enough. Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times wrote: “But somebody did argue that if we’re causing climate change, it’s because we’re not logging the forests fast enough. That was Sen. Brian Dansel, R-Republic, vice-chair of the Natural Resources and Parks Committee. … “We haven’t been doing the logging that we’re supposed to do,” he informed the Senate. “I ought to put in there that we’re not doing enough timber harvest, and that’s a cause, too. Human inactivity is also leading to climate change.”” [Seattle Times, 3/10/15]

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