No consensus at Montana gubernatorial debate

Schweitzer and Brown Face Off in Season’s First Debate

About global climate change, [Republican] Brown treaded carefully around the issue of whether CO2 is a factor—“Put aside discussions and disputes, we can agree on one thing, the climate is changing.”

[Libertarian] Jones said, “I don’t believe it’s happening because of human-caused events…. Coal-fired power plants? Let’s build them. We don’t have to worry about carbon dioxide.”

This kind of question taps [Democrat] Schweitzer’s favorite subject, and he rattled off his list support of renewable energy programs, including investment in wind energy and biodiesel production in Montana. And he wholeheartedly endorses the scientific community’s conclusion that CO2 is a major factor in global climate change.

Great Falls Tribune:

But it was Brown who skirted the edges of the next question, which asked if the candidate thought humans are contributing to global warming. He simply said "there are scientists on both sides of the issue."

Schweitzer said the state can develop energy while lowering global-warming emissions.

"I believe that 95 percent of the scientists are correct, that we are increasing carbon dioxide on this planet and we are going to see climate change," the governor said. "We have to move aggressively toward a coal system that does sequester or create industrial products with the carbon dioxide."