Santorum goes after Romney on energy, climate change

Rick Santorum took aim at Mitt Romney for the former governor's position on climate change Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Who would be the better person to go after the Obama administration on trying to control the energy and manufacturing sector of our economy and trying to dictate to you what lights to turn on and what car to drive?” Santorum said during his speech at the conference.

“Would it be someone who bought into man-made global warming and imposed the first carbon cap in the state of Massachusetts, the first state to do so in the country?”

Santorum’s comments were part of a broader speech in which the former Pennsylvania senator sought to draw a “clear contrast” with Romney by positioning himself as the most conservative candidate.

Romney has taken flak from conservatives for his stance on climate change in recent months.

He said in October that he does not know what is causing climate change. But Romney raised eyebrows in Republican circles in June when he said human beings were partly responsible for climate change, bucking the position of many in his party.

A vast majority of the world’s scientists say climate change is occurring in large part due to human activity, mainly the burning of fossil fuels.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney initially backed creation of a regional cap-and-trade system for power plants among Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, but backed away before the program launched.

His successor, Gov. Deval Patrick (D), signed Massachusetts up for the ongoing Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Santorum called man-made global warming a “façade” during his speech Friday, lamenting what he called the “politicization of science.”

Plans by the Obama administration to regulate climate change at the Environmental Protection Agency “will destroy the very foundation of prosperity in our country,” Santorum said.

He also took aim at critics of the drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in which sand, water and chemicals are injected into the ground to gain access to valuable natural gas supplies. Natural gas drilling is a major industry in Pennsylvania, Santorum’s home state.

“Now that we’re doing hydro-fracking near the population centers, the bogeyman comes out. ‘Wooo, look at what it’s going to do to you,’” Santorum said.

“They scare you and they intimidate you to trust them to give them more power.”

Fracking critics say the drilling method threatens water supplies, and a recent Environmental Protection Agency draft study said fracking likely caused groundwater contamination in Wyoming. 

— Ben Geman contributed to this story.