NOACA meetings hijacked by climate change deniers

Opponents of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency's first-ever Climate Action Plan dominated the group's listening sessions this week by heckling presenters and submitting irrelevant questions.

What they're saying: "It was like a junior high school class the day a substitute teacher comes in," Grace Gallucci, executive director and CEO of NOACA, tells Axios.

• "We want to engage all people in the region, whether or not they support climate change action," she says. "But it is important that people participate in good faith."

Zoom in: Gallucci stresses that those who attended the meetings to be disruptive, including regional Tea Party groups, represent a substantial minority in the region, where 4 out of 5 residents believe that climate change is real and action must be taken to slow it down.

Cuyahoga County director of sustainability Mike Foley says he was disheartened by the climate change deniers at the meeting.

• "Their comments did nothing to address the warmer, wetter, wilder weather future we will be experiencing," Foley tells Axios.