Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) was defeated in the 2020 general election by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO). Originally Gardner served in the Colorado House of Representatives where he was well known for his work in the fields of energy and agriculture policy. When he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, he served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee where he maintained an “all-of-the-above” approach when it came to his energy policy, promoting both non-renewable energy industries and talking about renewable energy options. As a Senator, he served on the Senate Energy & Natural Resource Committee, as well as the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
Cory Gardner on Climate Change
Despite Cory Gardner’s extensive history and expertise in the field of energy and natural resources, he is still yet to fully admit that climate change is a human-influenced phenomena. During his Senate run in 2014, in a debate for The Denver Post with democratic candidate and senate incumbent Mark Udall, he was asked “do you believe humans are contributing significantly to climate change?”. In his response, Gardner said, “Well, I’ve said all along climate is changing… This is an important issue and I don’t think you can say yes or no. I believe climate is changing, but I disagree to the extent that’s been in the news that man is changing…”
Earlier that year in 2014, Cory Gardner voted against an Amendment to the Keystone XL Pipeline Removal Act that stated in-text that climate change is real and significantly contributed to by humans. The full text of the amendment can be found on S267 of this article of the Congressional Record. Sen. Cory Gardner faced a lot of backlash in late 2019 when he voted to allow President Trump to repeal the Clean Power Plan, contradicting his campaign promise to Colorado constituents that as Senator he would work to protect the environment. In addition, according to the League of Conservation Voters’ Environmental Scorecard, Gardner only votes in favor of environmental policies at a rate of 10%. The lack of follow-through on his pro-environmental promises from his Senate run can be directly attributed to the $1.4 million that he received from the oil and gas industry during his campaign.
Cory Gardner and Friends
The American Conservative Union (ACU) spoke out in 2013 about how Cory Gardner represents true American conservatism for his commitment for defending the U.S. Constitution. Gardner responded that he was “honored” to receive the recognition. Chairman of the ACU Matt Schlapp has been known during his time with Koch Industries to push an anti-environmental agenda and finance climate-denying groups.
See Also: Sen. James Inhofe, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Kelly Loeffler, David Perdue, Martha McSally
Climate of Denial