It may not seem obvious when reading modern headlines, but Republicans have historically been at the forefront of environmental protection.
Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman, helped create the modern environmental movement by establishing about 230 million acres of protected public lands between 1901 and 1909. More than six decades later, another Republican president, Richard Nixon, signed legislation to create the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Photo Courtesy Richard Nixon Foundation
Today, another 60-plus years later, a leading Republican congressman aims to help push forward transformative climate-focused policy. That congressman, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, was appointed vice chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus (CCC) in January. One of his first moves was to address the environmental challenges in a way that set him apart from some of his GOP colleagues.
“If conservatives are scared to talk about the climate, then we’re not going to have a seat at the table when decisions are made,” Carter said in a press release.
“That’s why I joined the CCC, and I look forward to productive discussions about how best to protect our environment and promote clean energy solutions without kneecapping growth and innovation.”
Photo Courtesy Conservative Climate Caucus
In an interview with Fox News following his appointment, Carter said he would use the position to take on climate challenges head-on:
“… there are people in our party who are climate deniers — they don’t believe in climate change,” Carter told Fox News. “… but I do believe in climate change. I believe that it’s real. And I believe that it is impacted by man. And I believe it is cyclical and that we are going through one of those cycles. If we are just going to stick our head in the sand, we’re going to miss the boat; we’re not going to have an opportunity to be involved at all.”
Photo Courtesy Congressman Buddy Carter
While Carter did not vote for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a bill with sweeping impact on clean energy initiatives – Axios reported in April that Carter admitted to liking parts of the IRA and said he wishes he “could have picked and [chosen]” parts of the law to vote yes on as it moved through Congress. Carter also told Axios he wants a “market-driven and consumer-driven” approach to climate policy.
As a leader on energy and climate issues in the Republican Party, Carter attended COP28, the annual climate summit hosted by the United Nations. According to Fox News, one of the things Carter learned while meeting with international leaders is that more nations are adopting nuclear energy as a zero-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, which could boost the U.S. nuclear energy industry.
Carter aims to advance nuclear energy by pursuing bipartisan legislation to ease nuclear regulations in his new position. Another priority is to reduce the United States’ reliance on China as a green energy supply chain source.“Let’s face it, China is the OPEC of critical minerals,” Carter told Fox News Digital. “My district is one of the few districts in America that is mining critical minerals right now, and we need to do more of that. This attitude of ‘not in my backyard,’ we’ve got to get past that. We’ve got to have reliable supply chains.”
