Climate

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

In 1989, a Republican-led, bipartisan group of 140 cosponsors (many of us “Republicans for Integrity”) championed a road-map to address climate, the Global Warming Prevention Act.

This Act was a multi-faceted bill that, for the first time, proposed appliance efficiency standards (Energy Star); no-till agriculture; more investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency; and the federal government’s leadership in least-cost energy efficiency.

Why? Because the nation’s top scientists had already presented the alarming facts about climate change before the Science, Research and Technology Committee way back in the 1980’s – at a time when the Republican Party accepted scientific facts! They warned us then that burning fossil fuels was trapping greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, resulting in extreme weather fluctuations that would increase the number and intensity of droughts, raging forest fires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

As conservatives, we believed deeply - and still do! - that we have a mandate to conserve our nation’s natural resources...so, we came together to act.

Why, as a Party, do today’s Republicans oppose any solutions addressing climate?

Follow the money...from the fossil fuel industries to Senate incumbents!

• Spoiler alert!
  • Of the top 20 recipients of oil and gas money in government, 19 are Republicans. And of the top 20 recipients of fossil fuel money in just the House of Representatives, all were Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission data of June 21, 2018.

As the rest of the world is moving forward, aggressively working to prevent future cataclysms, our nation-thanks to the U.S. Senate, is moving backwards!

• The United States is the only nation that is not part of the international Climate Paris Accord. Even Nicaragua and Syria have now joined!
• The Federal Reserve has listed climate change as one of its top risks for the economy!

Republicans Voting to Worsen Climate Change

Over the last three years, rather than advocate for a free market solution to the problem of climate change, the Republican United States Senate has either ignored the climate crisis or taken active steps to make it worse by:

• Supporting President Trump’s “Dirty Power Plan,” the administration's rule that will dismantle clean air protections and make the climate crisis worse.
• Repealing the Clean Power Plan that limits carbon pollution
• Denying that humans contribute to climate change

Conservatives like those at Republicans for Integrity know that market solutions are superior to unwieldy regulations. Ronald Reagan himself thought so, viewing pollution as a form of ‘property right infringement’, and his former Treasury Secretary James Baker, then and now, advocated for market-based climate solutions. Today, along with other former and present Republican governors, mayors, citizens and American businesses we support a ’pollution tax’, also known as a "carbon fee.

The climate crisis has been called “the worst market failure in human history.”

• However, Republicans – proud free-market supporters – could harness the power of the market, safeguard the economy and preserve the world for our children.
  • This would represent the greatest conservative legacy of all time!

Climate-related costs are rising with no end in sight!

“But a carbon tax will make the cost of living too expensive!”, say those bought off by the fossil fuel industry.

This is a canard. First, all revenue from a carbon tax can be returned as monthly cash payments to every American household. Second, those who claim “too expensive”, with this simplistic and disingenuous statement fail to address the fact that climate change is already spinning costs out of control.

The Costs of Doing Nothing (federal costs only; state and local expenses are additional)

A September 2017 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said:

In just the past decade, the federal government has incurred direct costs of more than $350 billion because of extreme weather and fire events, including:

• $205 billion for domestic disaster response and relief;
• $90 billion for crop and flood insurance;
• $34 billion for wildland fire management; and
• $28 billion for maintenance and repairs to federal facilities and federally managed lands, infrastructure and waterways

Fox News: “Climate change already costing U.S. taxpayers.”

National Security

• President Trump on August 13, 2018, required the Pentagon to identify the top 10 military bases threatened by climate change for the Navy and the other service branches by November.

Wildfires

• Wildfire suppression costs between 2000 – 2017: $26 billion
• In 2017, 52% of Forest Service budget was spent on firefighting
• More than 280,000 personnel deployed at peak of fire season
• U.S .Forest Service estimates 100,000 infested trees are killed daily by beetles
• 1,317,397 fires (Frequency of fires in US has increased 400% since 1970)
• 124,333,532 acres burned
• In 2015, wildfires caused $14.3 billion in real estate damage.

Hurricanes

• Hurricanes are THE most damaging of natural disasters
• CBO estimates that, on average, hurricane damage is $28 billion a year
• By 2075, the average annual damage costs will increase to $39 billion
• Over one-third of U.S. gross domestic product is from hurricane-prone states along the Gulf and Atlantic coastline; includes 72 ports, 27% of major roads and 9% of rail lines

Floods

• Between 1980 and 2013 the United States suffered more than $260 billion in flood-related damages
• Homes exposed to sea level rise sell for approximately 7% less than equivalent unexposed properties
• The National Flood Insurance Program loses $1.4 billion annually, according to a Congressional Budget Office – and it was already $20.5 billion in the red even after President Trump forgave $16 billion of its debt last fall
• Hail storms are responsible for at least $10 billion in damage annually across North America
• These damaging storms are predicted to shift regionally and potentially intensify with climate change.

Drought

In August 2018, NOAA reported that severe to extreme drought affected about 25 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of July and about 38 percent of the contiguous U.S. fell in the moderate to extreme drought categories at the end of July 2018.

In 2012, more than 80% of the U.S. experienced abnormally dry conditions. During the 2012 Midwest drought:

• Corn yields were down 26%
• Farmers slaughtered cattle that were too expensive to feed
• U.S. Department of Agriculture declared a natural disaster for over 2,245 counties covering 71% of the country
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to deepen a portion of the Mississippi River by two feet
• By 2050, it is predicted that the American Southwest and Great Plains will experience a mega-drought

The United States Senate needs to lead on climate change!

Its continued failure to do so will further damage the land, homes, businesses, jobs and livelihood of Americans, as well as their dreams for a good life and a better future.

Clean Energy Creates Jobs!

It’s about building our economy by transitioning to cleaner, healthier, safer jobs!

In May 2018, Forbes reported that worldwide, the "Clean Energy Sector Employs More Than 10 Million For The First Time." The United States had been a leader in this important sector, but Republican policies in Congress and at the White House are putting this sector in jeopardy!

• To review some useful reports showing the beneficial impacts of clean energy on our economy, visit Advanced Energy Economy's Reports page

Climate Change is one of the greatest challenges humans have ever faced.

WE WILL HAVE NO FEDERAL POLICIES THAT ADDRESS CLIMATE WITHOUT CHANGING THE SENATE.