Oh Look! Congressional GOP Has A New Conservation Caucus! Some Members Will TALK ABOUT Climate!
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Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado, who are leading the caucus in the Senate along with other Republicans in the House, seemed to acknowledge the new political energy around the environment — without mentioning the Green New Deal explicitly — in a letter seeking the support of their fellow Republicans obtained by TIME. “Republicans have a long history of promoting conservation and environmental protection,” the letter seeking support from GOP colleagues reads. But “these issues have been increasingly hijacked by beliefs in big government solutions and radical environmentalism.”
While the letter appears to reference the Green New Deal, Benji Backer, president of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), a conservative group focused on the environment that is working with the caucus, says talks around starting the group have been ongoing for more than six months.
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The Roosevelt Conservation Caucus does not appear to endorse any specific legislation and the letter does not mention climate change explicitly, instead referring to “environmental stewardship.” And the word conservation in its name suggests that its ambition might be somewhat limited in scope. Backer suggested that conservation works as a starting pointing for a larger environmental discussion among conservatives. “Conservation is the easiest way to engage on these issues,” he says. “It’s part of our name.”
Still, the battle to engage Republicans remains steep. Many in the party, including President Donald Trump and many members of his Administration, continue to deny the science of man-made global warming, and the Administration last month launched a panel to try to undermine the science. That effort follows a slew of other efforts to roll back environmental rules. No matter what Trump says, the initiative shows how much the political winds have shifted on environmental issues in recent years. Both Graham and Gardner are up for reelection next year, and Gardner in particular is likely to face a competitive race in a state that is increasingly trending blue. Nearly three-quarters of adults in Colorado and two-thirds in South Carolina think climate change is happening, according to a recent survey from the Yale Program on Climate Change communication. Both states, like the rest of the country, are vulnerable to impacts linked to climate change, including coastal flooding in South Carolina, and drought and wildfires in Colorado.
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http://time.com/5540480/conservation-caucus-green-new-deal/
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