COMMENTARY | Rick Santorum defended his work as a consultant for coal industry giant Consol Energy by pointing to his record on global warming and cap and trade during Saturday's New Hampshire Republican debate in Manchester.
"And when I left the United States Senate, I got involved in causes that I believe in," Santorum said in response to an attack by one of his competitors for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Texas Congressman Ron Paul claimed Santorum became "a high powered lobbyist" in Washington after leaving the Senate.
"I also worked for a coal company," Santorum acknowledged. "As I mentioned the other day, my grandfather was a coal miner. I grew up in the coal region. And when I left the United States Senate, one of the big issues on the table was cap-and-trade, global warming, and I wanted to stay involved in the fray."
"So I contacted a local coal company from my area," he explained. "I said, look, I want to join you in that fight. I want to work together with you. I want to help you in any way I can to make sure we defeat cap-and-trade. And so I engaged in that battle. And I'm very proud to have engaged in that battle."
Last year, the former Pennsylvania senator earned $142,500 for his work as a consultant for Consol Energy, according to FactCheck.org.
Santorum didn't delve into his views on global warming science during the debate, but he did discuss them at length during a town hall meeting with voters held last week in Belmont, N.H. A video and transcript of his remarks can be found on my blog New Hampshire Primary 2012: Green.
"The climate does change," Santorum said. "The question is, what is causing the climate to change."
"I don't think any scientist in the world would suggest there isn't a variety of factors, and I think the vast majority of scientists would say there's probably a hundred factors that cause the climate to change," he explained. "And so why have we decided that this one particular factor, carbon dioxide, is in fact that tip of the tail that wags the entire dog?"
He also suggested that former Vice President Al Gore and fellow climate activists have a hidden agenda.
"And let's go back to what that agenda is," he said. "There's a common theme that you should be hearing here. They don't trust you to allocate resources in a way that they believe is best, and so they want to have a system that forces you to do what they think you should do in running your business and your lives."
It's not the first time Santorum has weighed in on the issue as a presidential candidate.
"There is no such thing as global warming," he told Glenn Beck back in June.
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