Former Senator Fred Thompson has acknowledged that global warming is real, but he has not released a comprehensive plan to address the climate crisis and our energy challenges — and he has even openly mocked the science behind global warming.

On the campaign trail, Sen. Thompson has talked about America’s need to become energy independent,¹ yet what little he has said on the issue has not included any concrete goals, targets or timelines. Additionally, the policies that Sen. Thompson does support would actually exacerbate the climate crisis. Specifically, he supports using liquid coal and drilling for oil domestically, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.²

Sen. Thompson has voted against increasing fuel economy standards³ while also voting to terminate existing standards.⁴ More recently, he has emphasized that what we need to do is focus more on the supply side by “using the resources we have right here in this country.”⁵ Shortly before speculation began to mount that Sen. Thompson would run for president, his complete lack of understanding regarding the urgency of the climate crisis was broadcast across the nation.

In the most striking contempt for the science of global warming among the candidates running for president, Sen. Thompson gave a sarcastic radio address in which he mocked climate change, noting the contagious “fever” that other planets seem to be “catching” from the Earth.⁶ His parroting of the tired, debunked talking points of global warming deniers displays a genuine inability to grasp the severity of the climate crisis.

In the Senate, Sen. Thompson racked up a long list of anti-environmental votes. During his eight years in the Senate, Sen. Thompson voted against numerous important funding measures, including funding to protect fish and wildlife,⁷ repair aging infrastructure in national parks and forests⁸ and clean up toxic waste at Superfund sites.⁹ In addition, Sen. Thompson voted several times to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.¹⁰

In his own words

Thompson on energy and global warming:

“Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming. It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto. NASA says the Martian South Pole’s “ice cap” has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from earth. If so, I guess Jupiter’s caught the same cold, because it’s warming up too, like Pluto. This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle. Silly, I know, but I wonder what all those planets, dwarf planets and moons in our SOLAR system have in common. Hmmmm. SOLAR system. Hmmmm. Solar? I wonder. Nah, I guess we shouldn’t even be talking about this. The science is absolutely decided. There’s a consensus. Ask Galileo.”¹¹

On other key environmental issues, Sen. Thompson:

Voted against a funding increase for accelerating toxic waste cleanups at Superfund sites in 1998.¹²
Voted for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.¹³
Voted for trade legislation that failed to address key environmental provisions in 2002.¹⁴

*Sen. Thompson did not return LCV’s Presidential Candidate Questionnaire. Information based on past voting record.