John Culbertson (R-TX) Spent Campaign Cash On Fake Fossils, Claimed It Was For "Climate Research"
Call it “the climate change defense” or, maybe, “the climate science denier defense.” Texas Rep. John Culberson (R) has come up with a novel argument against complaints that he has used more than $50,000 in campaign funds to buy collectibles such as Civil War memorabilia and even fossils.
The Houston Chronicle reported Monday that “Culberson’s aides explained the purchase as research material on paleo-climatology, a subject that would help him understand climate science,” which he supposedly needs to do since he’s on a committee that oversees funding for NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “They said the materials helped give him a better understanding of the changing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”
This defense from Culberson, a long-time denier of climate science, is particularly laughable when you go to his campaign’s Federal Election Committee filing, which reveals the purchases come from the Black Hills Institute of South Dakota.
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t seems even more unlikely that fossils — or potentially fossil replicas — would give the Congressman much insight into climate science. That’s especially true because Culberson is a long-time climate science denier who rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that human emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels, are the dominant cause of recent warming.
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https://thinkprogress.org/texas-4f067a76ef32/
