Environmentalists target 5 Republicans who question humans’ impact on climate

Source: Washington Post

The League of Conservation Voters will launch a $1.5 million campaign Tuesday targeting five House Republicans who question the connection between human activity and climate change, in an effort to test whether the issue can sway voters.

Prominent conservative Republicans have challenged the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and other sources are transforming the Earth’s climate. But it has not emerged as a central issue in a national political campaign, and President Obama, who pushed unsuccessfully for national limits on greenhouse gas emissions at the start of his term, has played down the issue over the past two years.

The League of Conservation Voters, which has endorsed both Democrats and Republicans in the past, aims to unseat Reps. Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.), Dan Benishek (Mich.) and three other yet-to-be-named House Republicans — they’ve dubbed the group “the Flat Earth Five” — by attacking their global warming stance and ties to the fossil fuel industry.

“There’s still a debate about how to address these issues, but Americans expect their politicians to be informed and to accept basic science,” said Navin Nayak, the group’s senior vice president for campaigns. “Independents are with us. All of these members are in places where they have to win a majority of independent voters to win reelection.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/environmentalists-target-5-republicans-who-question-humans-impact-on-climate/2012/07/23/gJQAHqJD5W_story.html