GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has asked Politico (which failed to “regret the error”) to correct a quote cited in no less than six of its articles about his position on global warming. Here’s how Politico has been relaying it:
“I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants, of greenhouse gases…”
Romney’s campaign said it should read:
“I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases…”
The campaign contends there is an “important distinction” between pollutants and greenhouse gases, in the context of global warming and regulation of the invisible gases:
“Gov. Romney does not think greenhouse gases are pollutants within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and he does not believe that the EPA should be regulating them,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “CO2 is a naturally occurring gas. Humans emit it every time they exhale.”
Maybe not, but what’s the difference? He believes they should be limited just like real pollutants, so whether or not he calls them that is irrelevant. He may want to go about it a different way, but however he would do it, it would cause the costs of fossil fuel energy to skyrocket.
