Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who earlier this year indicated he was assembling a group of GOP Senators interested in working on climate change solutions, said in a speech on Monday that climate change is happening, human activity is a “significant contributor,” and a carbon tax is a better approach than the Green New Deal (GND).
“Romney discussed the benefits of a carbon tax,” according to the Associated Press. “A fee based on each ton of carbon dioxide emissions produced by fossil fuels that some major oil companies have adopted. He suggested a portion of the tax revenue could go to coal workers in rural communities that would suffer financially from the move to cleaner power alternatives.” By contrast, he called the GND “silliness.” Romney also pointed out the disparity between the older generation of conservatives and the rising generation of conservative leaders, who are more bought in to the need for climate action.
Related, check out Louisiana journalist Bob Marshalls’ column, Republicans are softening their views on climate change: here’s why (nola.com) “But the fact that a growing number of Republicans especially the rising generation are now saying conservatives should give environmental protection and especially climate action a prominent place in party policy is the change we need to make any progress,” he writes. “And for Louisiana residents from Baton Rouge to the coast, it’s the change that could well determine if our next generations can even live here.”
And one last recommended read, Climate change is a GOP issue too by Tia Nelson and published in the Door County Pulse. “For decades, global warming was a bipartisan issue, and there’s no reason it can’t be again,” she writes. “I consider myself a conservationist, and when I speak to my conservative friends, I remind them that there’s a reason why “conservationist” has “conservative” as its root : Conserving our natural resources is, in fact, a conservative value.”
That’s what we have for you today!