Gingrich Says He's Scrapping Climate Change Chapter From Upcoming Book

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said Thursday he's axing a chapter on climate change from his forthcoming book -- though the intended author of the section said that was news to her, according to National Journal.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month the book will more or less be a sequel to the former House Speaker's 2007 book, "A Contract with the Earth," describing it as a "collection of essays by various businesspeople and scientists." The Times said it would include a chapter on climate change by Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech who has said there is "no debate" about the reality of climate change and "the fact that humans are the primary cause."

A woman expressed concern to Gingrich about the chapter during an Iowa campaign stop Thursday, saying she'd heard Rush Limbaugh talking about it on his radio program.

"That's not going to be in the book," Gingrich said to her in a video of the exchange. "We didn't know that they were doing that -- we told them to kill it."

After the woman stepped away, Gingrich beckoned to a staffer and said, "Remind me when we get back to the bus about Rush and global warming."

Watch the exchange below, via National Review:

National Journal had Hayhoe's reaction to the news:

Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech, confirmed in an e-mail interview that she had been asked to write a chapter on climate change for the former House speaker’s book. She said she was approached by former Palm Beach Zoo CEO Terry Maple, Gingrich’s coeditor, at an annual meeting of Republicans for Environmental Protection. Asked to confirm her chapter was dropped, she replied, “I had not heard that.”

Limbaugh had hit out at Hayhoe on his Dec. 19 program, saying she would be contributing to Gingrich's book and calling her "one of Newt’s experts" who believes in man-made global warming.

In 2008, Gingrich appeared in a now-infamous ad with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying the two agree "our country must take action to address climate change." He has since called it "the dumbest single thing I've done" in recent years.