John Kasich: 'I Believe There Is A Problem' With Climate Change

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) acknowledged that climate change is a "problem" last week at a GOP fundraiser.

"This isn’t popular to always say, but I believe there is a problem with climates, climate change in the atmosphere," he said Thursday, according to the Columbus Dispatch. "I believe it. I don’t know how much there is, but I also know the good Lord wants us to be good stewards of his creation. And so, at the end of the day, if we can find these breakthroughs to help us have a cleaner environment, I’m all for it."

Kasich was speaking about his energy policy. According to the Chillicothe Gazette, Kasich also said that he wants to bring hydraulic fracturing to Ohio with adequate regulation, and lobbied President Obama on shale gas drilling in March.

Kasich, however, has placed a moratorium on the deep injection of drilling wastes for disposal within five miles of a well site -- a process separate from fracking.

His comments put him apart from some in the GOP who have denied the reality of climate change even in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. The entire Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee declined to vote in March 2011 in favor of amendments acknowledging the scientific findings supporting climate change science.

Former GOP candidate Rick Santorum, who was previously the party's strongest challenge to presumptive front-runner Mitt Romney before he dropped out on Tuesday, has called global warming a "hoax" and quipped, "the dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is."

Mitt Romney's position, however, is that climate change is real and human activity contributes to it, though he says he doesn't know to what extent.