from the Athens Banner-Herald:

Broun Plans Hearings on Climate Change and EPA
By Blake Aued

Published Wednesday, February 23, 2011

LEXINGTON - U.S. Rep. Paul Broun plans to use his new position as a House subcommittee chairman to investigate climate change and the Environmental Protection Agency, he said Tuesday.

At the same time as Broun was speaking to constituents at a town hall meeting in Oglethorpe County, fishermen, conservationists, ecologists and environmental activists were meeting at the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology to promote the idea of manmade climate change and talk about how to reverse the trend.

Broun, who became chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Committee's subcommittee on investigation and oversight when Republicans took control of the House last month, said he plans to use hearings to show that manmade climate change is not settled science.

"We're going to get all voices heard about the science of climate," Broun said. "Right now the (Obama) administration turns a blind ear and eye to opposing views."

The effects of manmade climate change are already apparent, said Oconee County activist Rich Rusk, who, like Broun, is a member of the fishing group Trout Unlimited.

"They're already here, and they'll be increasing," Rusk said. "I suspect many people who are skeptical about climate change will live long enough to see the impacts and know how wrong they've been."

The climate change panel discussion Tuesday was organized by the Oconee chapter of Trout Unlimited and the UGA chapters of the Soil and Water Conservation and American Fisheries societies. Organizers plan to form a committee and hold another meeting sometime this spring, Rusk said. The committee plans to educate people about climate change and support policies like energy conservation and renewable energy that would reduce carbon emissions.

Rusk said his father, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, told him shortly before his 1994 death that climate change would the defining issue of his generation.

Trout Unlimited supported the cap-and-trade climate legislation that died in the Senate last summer because it says warming streams are threatening trout and salmon populations. Many North Georgia trout died when stream temperatures reached 85 degrees during the recent drought that may have been caused by climate change, Rusk said.

Broun said in 2009 that "the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community." He accused Democrats and scientists who support the theory of politicizing and suppressing data, but said Tuesday he is keeping an open mind.

"What I see from this administration is utilizing global warming to try to promote a political agenda," Broun said.

"I'm a scientist. I'm a physician. I believe we need to look at it on a scientific basis. I don't know for certain, but we need to get the science out to the public so that all voices can be heard."

Broun said he will also hold hearings on an EPA proposal to regulate carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

He said he opposes the regulations, but many environmental and health groups say the gas contributes to rising temperatures and deaths from heat-related and respiratory illness.

According to Wikipedia, "Broun is a political conservative; his religious views inform his politics. In May 2009, Broun proposed legislation that would have proclaimed 2010 The Year Of The Bible. He also introduced a bill to ban the sale or rental of sexually explicit materials on U.S military installations."

In September 2010, The Rachel Maddow Show played a clip of Broun at a public meeting where he cited a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control that claimed Americans were not eating enough fruits and vegetables. He went on to say, “Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said people in America are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. They want all the power of the federal government to force you to eat more fruits and vegetables. This is what the federal CDC– They (sic) going to be calling people and finding out how many fruits and vegetables you eat (sic) today. This is socialism of the highest order!"