While Gov. Bill Lee is undecided on whether climate change is real, he said Thursday the state has a duty to take care of the environment.

Speaking to reporters after being asked whether he believed the Earth's climate is changing, Lee said he was unqualified to make such a judgment.

"I wish I were scientifically smart enough to know the reasons for climate change, and I don't," Lee said. "But I certainly believe we have a responsibility to protect the environment and to limit those influences that may impact the climate change in our country, and let the scientists and the experts determine what's responsible for it.

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"But I want to be a responsible steward of the environment and play the role that Tennessee can play in being responsible."

The question came after U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, announced this week his "New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy," an alternative to Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal."

Lee spoke with reporters after addressing the Nashville Chamber of Commerce's annual breakfast at the Omni Hotel.

Alexander affirmed on the U.S. Senate floor Monday that he believed climate change was real and caused by humans, but proposed his own five-year, 10-point plan to double federal funding for energy research and develop new clean energy sources.

When asked whether he disputed studies by NASA that point to a global warming trend caused by human activity, Lee countered that there was additional research showing otherwise.

"There are a lot of studies that have had a lot of different outcomes," Lee said. "I'm certainly not an expert in that. I think we should do whatever we can to be a responsible steward of the environment."

Asked what steps Lee planned to take to address environmental concerns, his office on Thursday said the governor had done so throughout his life.

"Living on a farm, Gov. Lee has spent a lifetime caring for the land and being a good steward of our state's natural resources," said Laine Arnold, Lee's press secretary. "He approaches his work on this issue with that same dedication and commitment."

Haslam-commissioned report outlines climate change in Tennessee

Since the 1960s, Tennessee has experienced a growing share of record daytime high temperatures, compared to record lows, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information and the Associated Press.

The number of days with record high temperatures in the state has exceeded the number of nights with record lows by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1 since 2000. The pattern was flipped in the 1960s and 1970s, when the state saw 2.6 times more record lows.

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The agriculture industry — a group Lee has pledged to support throughout his campaign and in his first months as governor — has already been forced to adapt to the effects of climate change by installing additional irrigation equipment and using genetically modified seeds to withstand additional heat, said Aaron Smith, a professor at the University of Tennessee's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam commissioned a report that examined the state’s water resources and affirmed that the climate is changing in Tennessee.

"Tennessee’s climate is changing; although the average temperature did not change much during the 20th century, the state has warmed in the last 20 years,” the report read, which was released in November. “Average annual rainfall is increasing, and a rising percentage of that rain is falling on the four wettest days of the year.”

The Haslam-commissioned report predicts that "in the coming decades, the changing climate is likely to reduce crop yields, threaten some aquatic ecosystems, and increase some risks to human health," including more frequent and severe floods and droughts.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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