Doug LaMalfa

Climate Change Denial Government Doug LaMalfa

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA, 1) has represented the 1st Congressional District of California since taking his seat in January 2013. Currently, he sits on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Agriculture. Additionally, LaMalfa sits on two different Subcommittees: one on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials and one on a Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. The two committees oversee oil and gas pipelines and oil spills and other problems with water pollutants, respectively.

On Climate Change

Throughout his time in office, he has been a notable climate change denier. In a 2017 town hall meeting, he claimed that he “didn’t buy” that climate change is man-made and that he “thinks there’s a lot of bad science behind what people are calling global warming.” According to the League of Conservation Voters, LaMalfa’s lifetime score is 2%, with his 2019 score 5 points higher at 7%. Since 2013, he has had few pro-environment votes, with the most recent one being a ban on shark finning.

During the California wildfires of 2018, which heavily affected his constituents, he stated that the fires were due to federal and state forest-management policies, not man-made climate change.

In fact, most of LaMalfa’s sponsored bills relate to logging and loosening environmental restrictions. For example, LaMalfa:

Co-sponsored H.R.2647, a pro-logging bill called the Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016. This bill was supported by various logging and wood product interests groups, and it was opposed by different environmental interest groups.

Co-sponsored H.R.2936, a bill called the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017, which limited environmental assessments of forest management activities to only considering the impact of the activity or “the alternative of no action.” This bill would have also opened up federal lands for logging.

Co-sponsored H.R.865, the Emergency Forest Restoration Act in 2017, which was attempting to loosen environmental regulations on national forests.

Sponsored H.R.243, also known as the CARR act, in 2019, which “exempts wildfire mitigation activities conducted within 300 feet of a road from all laws governing (1) environmental review of proposed agency actions, or (2) protection of endangered or threatened species.”

It’s also worth noting that LaMalfa has personal stakes in climate change denial, as he owns somewhere between $1.1 million and $5.25 million worth of partial stakes in LaMalfa Farms, Inc, a rice farm and rice drying facility. Rice farms that are flooded periodically can create large quantities of nitrous oxide, and farms that are continuously flooded produce methane, which are both greenhouse gasses.

Campaign Contributions

Throughout his career, LaMalfa has received almost $140,00 from the oil and gas industry. From 2013 to 2018, he received the following campaign contributions, though these do not include donations from company executives or other individuals:

$21,130 from PG&E Corp

$14,000 from National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn

$12,700 from California Water Service Group

$11,000 from Occidental Petroleum PAC

$10,000 from Honeywell International

$7,500 from Exxon Mobil’s PAC

$6,500 from Chevron’s PAC

$6,000 from Edison International PAC

$3,000 from Sempra Energy

$1,000 each from American Petroleum Institute, American Gas Association, California Independent Petroleum Association