Does Paul Ryan Really Love the Outdoors?

Does Paul Ryan Really Love the Outdoors?

The VP candidate—unconvinced of global warming because of snow in Wisconsin—has consistently opposed climate change legislation.

By Azeen Ghorayshi | Fri Aug. 17, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/08/paul-ryan-climate-track-record

(I won't post the picture in the article he's put on his facebook page because he's gloating over a dead deer).

Exceprts:

What's money got to do with it? Probably quite a bit. For example, Ryan has been strongly against government investment in clean energy (see below). Appearing on 60 Minutes with Mitt Romney earlier this week, Ryan implied that Obama was "picking winners and losers based on connections, based on fads like Solyndra." But crony capitalism is a funny cry from someone who has immensely benefited from the very groups whose interests he is out to protect. To date, Ryan has received upwards of $244,000 in lobbying money from the oil and gas industries. In addition, according to the Daily Beast/Newsweek, Ryan and his wife Janna held stakes in four companies that lease land to energy companies, and thus stood to benefit personally from the $45 billion in tax breaks and subsidies in his proposed 2011 budget.

What about legislation? Ryan's record here is also not so good. The League of Conservation Voters has given him a 3 percent score for his voting record on environmental issues since 2011. Indeed, Ryan has seldom strayed from party lines. He's voted to eliminate the EPA's limits on greenhouse gas pollution, nix light-bulb efficiency standards, green-light Keystone XL, and sack White House climate advisers. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed about his 2011 budget plan, Ryan argued against clean energy investment, writing, "It rolls back expensive handouts for uncompetitive sources of energy, calling instead for a free and open marketplace for energy development, innovation and exploration."

The comments are really something. This is all near and dear to me because I see conservatives up here gain momentum with every victory won by a pug there, and it scares the hell out of me.