Inhofe shrugs as Jon Stewart pounces on snowball stunt 

Source: Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter • Posted: Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Sen. James Inhofe laughed off comedian Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” segment last night that lampooned the Environment and Public Works Committee chairman for implying that snow in February means man-made climate change isn’t happening.

The Oklahoma Republican said he expected to be “ridiculed” by the media for throwing a snowball on the Senate floor Thursday, arguing that cold weather was at odds with the theory of global warming (E&E Daily, Feb. 27).

“That’s fine,” Inhofe said. “I know where the press is on that, and I knew at the time that I’d be ridiculed on that.”

He added, “People need to lighten up around here. They take everything too seriously.”

The “Daily Show” feature, “Grumpy Cold Men,” highlighted Inhofe’s snowball stunt and floor speech saying NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were uncertain about whether 2014 was in fact the hottest year on record.

A January joint report by the agencies expressed 38 percent certainty that last year was the hottest since record keeping began in 1880, though it is possible that either 2005 or 2010 was hotter.

But Stewart said 2014 was still pretty hot, even if it missed the prize by a fraction of a degree.

“It was nominated,” he said. “It was a strong contender. It was at very least the ‘Boyhood’ of hottest years on record,” he said, referring to the Richard Linklater film, which was nominated for but didn’t win the Oscar for 2014’s best picture.