WASHINGTON A crowded field of Texas Democrats vying to unseat one of Washingtons most steadfast deniers of climate science got a welcome shock Thursday when Rep. Lamar Smith announced he would not seek re-election.

Smith, chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology , was first elected to serve Texas 21st Congressional District in 1986 and is the 14th-longest-serving member of the current U.S. House. The San Antonio native has a long and colorful history of dismissing the threat of climate change, recently going so far as to say that pumping the atmosphere full of carbon dioxide is beneficial .

Its great news for the climate, Derrick Crowe, a 37-year-old climate activist and progressive organizer who announced his candidacy in April, told HuffPost. You have the climate change denier-in-chief in Congress retiring. Thats going to mean that we can replace that with progressive values and make a huge difference.