In January, the Republican Party will take control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, giving the new majority considerable influence over federal energy policy and climate change regulation and legislation. By virtue of seniority, Fred Upton of Michigan is considered the likeliest candidate to head the committee.

But dark horse candidates are also vying for the chairman’s gavel, among them John Shimkus of Illinois, vice chairman of the Republican Party’s Congressional campaign committee.

“We continue to face an administration with a far left agenda,” Mr. Shimkus wrote last week in a letter to John Boehner, the presumptive new House speaker, touting his credentials for the position. “Now is not a time to moderate or compromise on our most deeply held values.”

Like many House Republicans, Mr. Shimkus is unconvinced that human activity is responsible for the recently observed warming of the planet. He has also used theological arguments to challenge the growing scientific consensus that runaway carbon dioxide emissions threaten to dangerously destabilize the global climate.

Most notably, at a 2009 hearing on climate change by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy and environment subcommittee, Mr. Shimkus turned to the Bible to refute the idea that humanity could cause catastrophic climate change. Many scientists fear that unmitigated warming will eventually lead to a meltdown of the polar ice caps, causing massive sea-level rise.

The Book of Matthew declares that the end of the world is to be proclaimed with a trumpet call from the angels, Mr. Shimkus noted. “The earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth,” he said. “This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.”

“I believe that’s the infallible word of God, and that’s the way it’s going to be for his creation,” he added.

At the same hearing, Mr. Shimkus referred to what he called a theological debate over whether the earth was a “carbon-starved planet.”

“If we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere?” he asked a committee witness. “We could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying.”

In an interview with Politico last week, Mr. Shimkus said that were he to take control of the energy committee gavel, Congressional action on climate change would come to a halt.

“The focus is not going to be climate,” he said. “The climate debate has, at least for two years, has ended with this election.”