Even more bizarre is his claims that all extreme weather events are “indisputably” caused by global warming.

(Chicago Business Journal) — On the morning after a swarm of tornadoes took a big bite out of Dallas, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., waded waist-deep into a scientific debate over whether global warming is behind an apparent recent rise in such severe weather events.

At a Chicago press conference where a report was released suggesting such a link, Mr. Durbin said he sees the impact of human decisions in everything from last year’s “snowmageddon” blizzard here to floods that swamped downstate Cairo.

“What happened to winter?” this year, with Illinois having just completed its warmest March in recorded history, he asked. “It’s obvious that something is happening here, and we’re foolish to ignore it.”

Climatologists, even the apparent majority that assert global warming is a real phenomenon partially caused by rising carbon emissions, are reluctant to draw such a direct correlation with single weather events.

Even the report that was released today by Environment Illinois stops short of that, declaring extreme weather in 2011 “provided a window into the future” but was also impacted by routine events such as La Nina in the South Pacific.

Mr. Durbin said scientific evidence of a tie between carbon-sparked global warming and severe weather “is indisputable.”

Such a link “has been proven. It’s been proven time and time again, and the science is clear,” he said. “Tell me (recent weather outbreaks) are a coincidence. I don’t believe it.”

While converting to hybrid cars and other steps may be costly, “it’s your money or your life,” Mr. Durbin said. “The warming climate is changing our weather patterns. We’re experiencing more severe events.”