Barry Smitherman, the head of Texas’ oil and gas drilling regulatory agency, does not believe in global warming according to a recent piece by State Impact Texas. Smitherman says before dismantling the electrical power generating fleet, there should be certainty about the role of CO2.
Smitherman’s statements are supported by physicist Dr. William Happer. Happer is also a climate change skeptic as well as Chairman of the George C Marshall Institute. The oil and gas industry has financially supported the Institute.
On the other side of the coin is Michael Mann. Mann is a prominent climate scientist and author. He says one of Happer’s statements regarding climate always changing is misleading, and current warming patterns are not consistent with natural climate variability. Mann also says a human fingerprint is clearly behind warming.
Smitherman, a Republican, is running for State Attorney General. Greg Abbott is currently holding that office and is also a skeptic of climate change. Abbott is running for Governor.
Mann says, “science is being abused as just another way of waging politics.”