Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has attracted some liberal support for his strong anti-war position and other pieces of his libertarian platform. But his views on environmental regulation — while consistent with his argument for a limited federal government — are not likely to win much applause from the left.

At Seattle University Friday, Paul was asked how to "get control" of the Endangered Species Act. He said:

"I've been reading the Constitution now and then. I can't find endangered species written in the Constitution and I don't think that's a federal function. But that doesn't mean that if we're not for the Endangered Species Act we shouldn't be interested in protecting species. We should be doing it in a private sort of way. Sometimes ... if there's an endangered species you say 'Well, I'm going to raise a few of those endangered species.' I think you go to jail for some of that. So it literally hinders what the goals are.

"It's the bureaucratic approach versus the free market approach. There is so much wealth in this country, there are a few billionaires around and many of them are interested in these subjects and there's no reason why with the land they own and buy and control, that they wouldn't be interested in these things."

Paul said he does not buy "this idea that that if we don't support the government's approach — the bureaucratic, authoritarian, thuggish, approach — then we don't care."

"I'm actually a believer that if it were left to he marketplace ... that private property owners could do a better job than what we do through federal regulations."

Eli Sanders wrote about Paul's liberal appeal last month in The Stranger. Sanders reported on Paul's environmental platform, writing:

Paul's solution to all environmental problems is essentially to do nothing and hope the market works everything out.

On global warming, Paul remains a skeptic. Friday, after his speech he was approached by Lexi Fish, a 22-year-old organizer from the New Voters Project, an effort affiliated with the Washington Public Interest Group. The project is pushing a "What's Your Plan?" campaign to ask presidential candidates what they'd do about climate change.

Fish asked Paul for his plan. The candidate told her that the issue needed more study. Fish told me:

"I sort of think he didn't directly answer the question."

Also, in the crowd for Friday's speech was state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, who said he supports Paul's presidential campaign, and state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. Roach is part of Mitt Romney's state campaign, but said she finds Paul very interesting.