Johnson brings pro-oil, climate-skeptical record to speakership

Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who won the gavel Wednesday after three prior Republican nominees failed to reach a majority, is a longtime ally of the oil industry and will be perhaps the most vocal skeptic of the scientific consensus on climate change ever to hold the speakership. 

Johnson, whose district includes the onetime oil industry hub of Shreveport, received a 100 percent rating from the pro-fossil fuel American Energy Alliance in 2022, along with every other Republican in Louisiana’s House delegation. The lobbying group had earlier endorsed Johnson’s fellow Louisianan, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who bowed out of the race for Speaker on Oct. 12 after failing to consolidate the necessary 217 votes.

Individuals and PACs associated with the oil and gas industry have donated $23,800 to Johnson in the 2023-24 campaign cycle, the largest amount he received from any group save retired donors, according to data from OpenSecrets.org. In the 2021-22 cycle, the sector donated $84,350.

In 2017, Johnson denied human-caused climate change at a town hall, telling attendees, “The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”

Johnson has a lifetime score of 2 percent on climate and environmental issues from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which excoriated him in a statement following his election.

“Johnson has led attacks on our elections, denied that climate change is a result of fossil fuels and polluters, and appears poised to continue to cater to Big Oil and Gas allies as Speaker,” LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said in a statement Wednesday.

House Science Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) called Johnson’s record on climate change “alarming” in a statement to The Hill.

“It’s alarming the speaker is not on board for climate solutions,” Lofgren said. “That poses risks for our urgent need to deal with our climate and energy challenges.”

Current Republican congressional leadership has seldom if ever identified climate change as a major priority, often casting the Biden administration as out of touch for its aggressive promotion of renewable energy, but outright skepticism of the kind Johnson expressed six years ago has become rarer among leadership since then. 

The “Commitment to America” plan released by GOP House leadership after the 2022 midterms includes references to encouraging domestic development of renewables alongside fossil fuels. It also includes plans to plant one trillion trees to better absorb carbon in the atmosphere, although climatologists have said the amount of trees needed to counteract the carbon in the atmosphere is likely beyond human capacity.

The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, and all indicators point to the year overall coming in as one of the hottest on record. Before that, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) announced the formation of the Conservative Climate Caucus in 2021, which includes in its statement of beliefs “the climate is changing, and decades of a global industrial era that has brought prosperity to the world has also contributed to that change.”

“Chairman Curtis has held conversations with Speaker Johnson about the Conservative Climate Caucus and we look forward to working with him on our priorities,” a Curtis spokesperson told The Hill in an email. “Conservatives are at the climate table.”

Another key factor in how Republicans handle the issue is the continuing popularity within the party of former President and likely 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump, an outright denier of climate change. Johnson is a longtime Trump ally and was involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election in his favor, and Trump expressed support for Johnson’s speakership bid a day after blasting the previous conference nominee, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.). 

The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office to ask if he stands by his 2017 comments.

Updated at 12:18 p.m. Oct. 26