WASHINGTON — The leading global warming skeptic in Congress says he disagrees with Pope Francis on climate change. The pope issued a teaching document Thursday that blames global warming on an unfair, fossil fuel-based industrial model that harms the poor most.
Republican Sen. James Inhofe (IHN’-hahf) of Oklahoma chairs the Senate Environment Committee. Inhofe says he worries the pope’s encyclical will be used by “alarmists” to push policies that will lead to a big tax increase.
Inhofe has called global warming a hoax. He says poor people spend the most disposable income on heating their homes and will “carry the heaviest burden” of policies intended to phase out fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
