When it comes to her record on energy independence and climate change, Michele Bachmann is consistent if nothing else. She has repeatedly ignored scientific evidence and has thwarted efforts to tackle the tough challenges of energy independence and responsible conservation policies.

Instead, Rep. Bachmann has consistently voted for status-quo policies that support an unsustainable use of petroleum products over renewable energy alternatives.

Here are a few highlights of her disappointing record:

• Rep. Bachmann told Sherburne County Republicans in March that, "The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax." (West Sherburne Tribune, 3/15/08)

• Rep. Bachmann voted to continue tax subsidies for Big Oil, while limiting tax benefits for production and use of renewable energy, by opposing the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008. (GovTrack, 2/27/2008)
  

• Rather than look to the future of renewable and sustainable energy, Rep. Bachmann favors drilling for more oil. In March, she blamed rising oil prices on House Democrats and argued that America could curb its reliance on foreign oil by drilling off the coast of Virginia, in the Gulf of Mexico, in California, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As she inaccurately stated, "If we extract 20 percent [of the oil] we know is off the coast of Virginia, we can replace what we import from Saudi Arabia. We have got almost unlimited availability of energy in the United States, but we have restricted our ability to use it." Contrary to Bachmann's misleading claims, the Interior Department estimates that only 56 million barrels of oil can be taken from the coast of Virginia -- a small amount compared to the 500 million barrels imported from Saudi Arabia every year. (City Pages, 4/2/08)
  

• Rep. Bachmann states in an op-ed piece -- despite mounting scientific evidence to the contrary -- that global warming is “unresearched hype.” (Star Tribune, 6/10/08)

• The centerpiece of Rep. Bachmann’s environmental agenda is to reverse the scheduled federal phase-out of incandescent light bulbs through the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which she introduced this March. (Star Tribune, 3/26/2008)

Check back tomorrow to read El Tinklenberg's forward-thinking agenda for energy independence and climate change.