It’s not quite the Green New Deal, but House Republicans began revealing on Wednesday their plan to combat climate change that comports with conservative principles of less regulation and increased domestic energy development.
The move comes as the GOP stance on the issue shifts from sowing doubt about climate change -- or ignoring it all together -- to grappling with how to best address it in the face of pressure from young voters and public alarm over deadly storms and wildfires linked to global warming.
“I think it’s a lot like health care was for the Republican party,” said Kiera O’Brien, president of Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends. “Climate is really a risk issue for us. We see the writing on the wall.”
But don’t expect the plan being crafted by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other senior GOP officials to include mandated limits on greenhouse gas emissions or a tax on carbon dioxide. Instead, Republicans are focused on a proposal centered around innovation and conservation.
McCarthy unveiled the first of portion of the legislation Wednesday with a package focused on carbon sequestration. It calls for the expansion and permanent extension of a tax credit for oil companies and others that capture carbon dioxide and bury it in the ground, money for the development of carbon capture for natural-gas power plants, and a bill by Arkansas Republican Representative Bruce Westerman that sets a goal of planting one trillion trees around the world.
Later components are likely to focus on climate resilience, plastic pollution and increasing energy production from carbon-free electricity sources like nuclear and hydropower, according to two people familiar with the party’s planning.
“We can bring you a healthier, cleaner, and safer environment through innovation,” McCarthy told reporters during a press conference in which his Republican colleagues denied the party had spent years obfuscating on the issue of climate. “What the Democrats want is greater control and command.”
The GOP measures, many of which have Democratic backing, are in line with legislation being prepared by Republicans in the Senate that are focused on energy storage, renewable power and carbon-capture technology.
But critics dismiss the plans as cynical rhetoric.
“I think they’ve been backed into a corner and they realize they can’t be climate deniers anymore,” said Melinda Pierce, legislative director for the Sierra Club. “They have to say something but what they are saying is nothing. It’s grasping at plastic straws and planting trees.”