Climate change might not be a hot topic in presidential election to date, but in South Dakota’s U.S. House race it’s causing a squabble. Congresswoman Kristi Noem and challenger Matt Varilek were at odds over the issue in their only West River debate hosted by the Rapid City Journal.
Varilek attacked Noem for failing to recognize the significance of the issue and Noem fought back by alleging Varilek supports too many restrictions on businesses. Here are two excerpts from the debate.
“No my opponent is someone who when she was in the state legislature voted for a resolution that said Climate Change is caused by a variety of factors, termological, Meteorological, astrological – so the fact that I’m a Taurs has something to do with the climate system. That’s outrageous we need get serious about the science and serious about passing the production tax credit so we can tackle climate change and grow our economy,” says Varilek.
“So while I recognize that we have some challenges in front of us with being able to provide electricity and power to South Dakota we can’t allow the EPA to jepordise out life here in South Dakota with policies that they’ve put in place. And that’s why we need to have someone in Congress who fights and has some common sense of all this. ” says Noem
Climate Change is one of many issues that divides the two candidates running for South Dakota’s lone U.S. House Seat. The two face off in two more debates before the November election.