Lauren Boebert Jokes About Climate Deniers During Colorado Drought Hearing

• Representative Lauren Boebert joked about how she is not a climate denier, considering she recognizes that the climate changes with each season, during a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing.
• That panel's Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries is seeking solutions on ways to increase water storage in Colorado.
• During the hearing, Boebert sought advice from Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Andrew Mueller on creating innovative solutions to the West's struggle with drought.
• Mueller responded that rising temperatures and hotter, drier summers mean that streams in Colorado that typically flowed year-round have gone dry.

Representative Lauren Boebert joked during a House committee hearing about how she isn't a climate change denier, considering that she recognizes the climate changes with each season.

Boebert made the comment Tuesday during testimony by Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Andrew Mueller before the House Committee on Natural Resources. That panel's Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries is seeking solutions on how to increase water storage and the best way to actively manage Colorado's forests.

According to a press release from Boebert's team, the congresswoman was seeking Mueller's advice on creating innovative solutions to the West's struggle with drought. States within the Colorado River Basin have struggled with dwindling water allocation, specifically in the lower basin. The press release said Boebert advocates rural water storage projects as well as supporting other water storage initiatives, such as construction of the Bruce Canyon Reservoir.

Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado, has angered climate change activists in the past, such as in 2021 when she introduced a bill to block President Joe Biden from having the U.S. rejoin the Paris Agreement. Boebert has previously criticized Biden's cautious policies on fossil fuel use, saying he is appeasing environmental extremists. She also faced scrutiny after criticizing environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter during COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Boebert cracked the joke on Tuesday after expressing her support for more water storage projects in her state and asking Mueller about the beneficial impacts of small-scale water storage options in Colorado.

"I am in favor of more water storage projects and the federal government being responsible," she said. "I don't think that any of us are climate change deniers. I fully agree that the climate is changing. It happens four times every year. In Colorado, sometimes four times in one day."

The joke appears to be a favorite of Boebert's, who has used it several times verbatim in the past, including at the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change, held in February in Orlando, Florida.

PatriotTakes, an anonymously run Twitter account designed to expose "right-wing extremism," according to its bio, tweeted her comments several days after the conference.

"Lauren Boebert: 'Climate change is absolutely real. It happens 4 times every year, and we're not surprised by it. In Colorado, sometimes it happens 4 times in day,'" the PatriotTakes tweet said.

At Tuesday's hearing, Boebert went on to say that being good stewards of the land means that managing and conserving water are paramount.

Mueller told the congresswoman that Colorado streams that typically flow year-round have dried up. "Due to rising temperatures and hotter, drier summers and reduced snowpack, we have seen those rivers going dry," he said.

Mueller told Newsweek in an emailed statement that rising temperatures associated with climate change have greatly affected the average annual flow of the Colorado River.

"According to [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], since 1895 many of the 15 counties we represent have experienced an increase in average temperatures of between 2.5 and 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit," he said. "With that rise in temperatures, we have seen a corresponding drop in the flow of the Colorado River and its principal tributaries in the state of Colorado by close to 20 percent, which threatens the water security of our communities, agriculture and recreation-based economy.

"Sound science indicates that rising temperatures are a direct result of human activities, specifically the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," Mueller said.

Boebert's press team told Newsweek in an emailed statement that "addressing Western drought is one of the congresswoman's top priorities in Congress."

The statement went on to include some of her initiatives, including recent legislation authored by Boebert to secure direction from the Appropriations Committee for a U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior pilot program to combat salt cedar and Russian olive tree infestations in the West.

"These noxious weeds waste up to 200 gallons of water per day per plant," the statement said. "Congresswoman Boebert has worked extensively with Montezuma County on its innovative efforts to mitigate salt cedars, and she was an early supporter of its efforts that ultimately became the model for exploring the national pilot program."