Senator raps U.N. "brainwashing" on climate
Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:14pm ET
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's most vocal global warming skeptic, James Inhofe, on Thursday dismissed a U.N. meeting on climate change as a "brainwashing" session.
Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who will step down as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee in January, told a news conference, "The idea that the science (on global warming) is settled is altogether wrong."

A majority of scientists, many in the U.S. government, accept that global warming is spurred by human actions and the emission of greenhouse gases. President George W. Bush said as much in July at a summit of industrialized nations.

Inhofe said he acknowledged that the planet is warming but disputed those who attribute it to human activity and the emission of greenhouse gases. Instead, he blamed climate change on natural cycles.

That puts him at odds with some in his own party, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, who on Thursday took the first step toward a White House run in 2008.

McCain said he and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, plan to re-introduce a bill on climate change on the first day of the new Congress.