Critics accuse Buttigieg of “playing politics” after comments linking the turbulence to climate change

Critics are responding to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has attributed recent major weather events and transportation crises to climate change, at least in part.

On Sunday, Buttigieg appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” where he claimed the effects of climate change are to blame for recent incidents of severe airplane turbulence and extreme weather.

Host Margaret Brennan asked Buttigieg about the strain on the national transportation system when bad weather complicates a heavy travel weekend like Memorial Day and what he thinks about NOAA’s latest outlook predicting a more severe hurricane season this year .

“The reality is that the effects of climate change are already upon us in terms of our transportation,” Buttigieg replied.

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“We’ve seen that in the form of everything from heat waves that statistically shouldn’t even be possible that threaten to melt the cables of transit systems in the Pacific Northwest to … hurricane seasons becoming more and more extreme and indications that turbulence is increasing from about 15%.

“That means appreciating anything and everything we can do about it.”

In response, GOP lawmakers and some climate analysts took issue with Buttigieg’s call for climate change, with one lawmaker claiming the weather and public transit systems are being politicized.

“It is clear that Secretary Buttigieg is not serious about addressing our many transportation challenges. He is playing identity politics to the detriment of the American people,” said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“Buttigieg’s latest comments are disputed by the National Transportation Safety Board and just another example of how out of touch he is with working Americans.”

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Energy analyst Alex Epstein, a former Cato Institute researcher and author of “Fossil Future,” told Fox News Digital that the secretary is also wrongly attributing recent crises to climate change.

“It’s not the climate itself that’s significantly affecting transportation, it’s the terrible climate policies, including Pete Buttigieg’s,” Epstein said.

“For example, the EPA’s new pollution standards constitute a de facto EV mandate that will force Americans to drive inferior cars and place massive new demands on reliable electricity on an already failing grid.”

Another climate expert pointed to the increase in overall airline flights as a reason for concern.

“One reason there is more turbulence is there are more flights,” said Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and the Environment.

“Even if the United States stopped using all fossil fuels now, it would only make a difference of 2/10 of a degree Celsius by 2100, government models show. There is no way these changes will ‘are attributed to climate change. The climate is changing all the time, but there is no reason to attribute these changes to the use of greenhouse gases.”

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Furchtgott-Roth also attributed the proliferation of social media and connectivity on planes to people being able to report in-flight problems almost immediately.

However, the Department of Transportation pushed back on critics and pointed Fox News Digital to a 2019 study in the journal Nature that discussed links between climate change and airline turbulence.

A department representative quoted the study’s co-author, University of Reading professor of atmospheric sciences Paul Williams, as saying that the study’s organizers had gathered a large body of scientific evidence now that turbulence is increasing due to climate change.

“An invisible form called clear air turbulence is created by wind shear, which, due to climate change, is now 15% stronger than in the 1970s. We expect further strengthening of wind shear in next decades, possibly doubling or tripling the amount of severe turbulence,” Williams wrote.

Requests for comment from the top House Transportation Committee Republican, Sam Graves of Missouri, and the top Democrat, Rick Larsen of Washington, were not returned.

Calls made to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, were not returned by press time.