Just days after comparing homosexuality to alcoholism on national television, Ken Buck, the Republican nominee in the race for U.S. Senate, questioned the validity of global warming, “straying” from any “lessons” he might have learned from his appearance on Meet the Press, notes Politico.

Buck took to the campaign trail yesterday with Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe, with Buck telling cheering supporters, “Senator Inhofe was the first person to stand up and say this global warming is the greatest hoax that has been perpetrated. The evidence just keeps supporting his view, and more and more people’s view, of what’s going on” (via the Fort Collins Coloradoan).

The campaign for Buck’s opponent, Senator Michael Bennet, didn’t take long to jump on the remarks. “Ken Buck’s extreme stance on climate change is a threat to Colorado’s economy and could prove cataclysmic for our national security,” says Bennet spokesman Trevor Kincaid.

After reports about Buck’s comments began to appear on national news websites, Buck’s campaign “clarified” that he does believe in global warming, but not that it is caused by humans, reports The Denver Post.

Buck isn’t the only Coloradan making headlines about climate change. Atmospheric scientist Aiguo Dai, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, says his ensemble of 22 computer models and other research indicates that within three decades, most of the western United States, among other places, will experience severe and prolonged drought as a result of global warming, writes Environment News Service. “If the projections in this study come even close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous,” Dai says.

Meanwhile, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced that Colorado State University in Fort Collins will be home to the North Central Climate Science Center (via the Denver Business Journal).