CNN host Chris Cuomo spars with congresswoman in tense exchange over global warming
CNN host Chris Cuomo battled with Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Friday morning over whether human beings are responsible for the warming of the globe in the last century.
The questioning of Blackburn came during a discussion on Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trumpâs pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency and a skeptic of climate-change science.
Cuomo asked Blackburn, vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for her views on Pruitt and whether he would âbe someone who deniesâ the âbasic scienceâ of climate change.
Rep. @MarshaBlackburn tells @ChrisCuomo there is still debate on human participation in global warming. https://t.co/aMplbQyYEP
â New Day (@NewDay) December 9, 2016
Blackburn said Pruitt âunderstandsâ the âheavy burdenâ the EPA has placed on businesses across the country through regulation. She said, however, that everyone remained in favor of clean air and water.
âCan you be for clean air and water if you do not believe that man has a hand in global warming?â Cuomo asked.
âOf course you can be a believer in clean air and clean water and realize that when you work at global warming or climate change, as it is now popularly called, that it is cyclical and you have to look at it in terms of centuries, not in terms of decades,â Blackburn said.
The congresswoman added: âAnd the science around that is not a settled science.â
Cuomo, taken slightly aback, asked Blackburn bluntly if she agreed that human actives âcontribute greatly to what is warming our planet over time.â
âDo you accept that?â he asked.
âI think that there are those who would say, âNo, it is more of a cyclical process.â There are those that will say that we do think humans have something to do with it,â Blackburn replied.
âItâs not some though, congresswoman,â Cuomo quipped. âYou know â itâs an overwhelming scientific consensus on the notion of whether man-made activities negatively impact global warming. Itâs not an open debate within the scientific community. It is a big majority and a small group of people that resist it.â
Cuomo reiterated that he was âtalking about the basic scienceâ and whether she and Pruitt agreed with it.
âThe fact is that there is still debate about that and the participation of human beings in this,â Blackburn said. âWe all will agree we want the Earth to stay healthy. We want clean air, we want clean water.â
The congresswoman said, however, that it was important to âmake certain that we are able to have the energy that is necessary to fuel a productive economy.â
More From Business Insider