Losing his religion

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's Record - WSJ.com

In April ['07?], Mr. Pawlenty delivered the remarks that probably best reveal his views on the environment. "It looks like we should have listened to President Carter," he told the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group. "He called us to action, and we should have listened. . . . Climate change is real. Human behavior is partly and may be a lot responsible. Those who don't think so are simply not right. We should not spend time on voices that say it's not real."

Sept '08 - Pawlenty's climate-change initiative: Is he backing away?

But recently on Glenn Beck's national radio show, Pawlenty left little doubt that he now has second thoughts.

"…anything that adds cost to energy prices right now," said the governor, "is going to be viewed with a great amount of concern and so you notice the cap and trade debate has kind of faded into the background and it's unclear what that would look like when and if it re-emerges."

Pawlenty backed away even more from previous statements when the conservative Beck suggested that cap and trade "was another tax."

After demoting the importance of human-caused carbon in climate change by saying the industrial impact was "a half percent or perhaps something more substantial," Pawlenty said: "But in the wake of this energy crisis where people are struggling to pay the bills, that debate on cap and trade has just fallen to the background for understandable reasons."

Today: Pawlenty delivers his State of the State address; I didn't hear a single mention of climate change or greenhouse gases

Governor Tim Pawlenty delivers his annual State of the State Address to a joint session of the Legislature.