Mike Aucott, of Pennington
With little fanfare in the press, a potentially momentous event took place last month: A Republican representative introduced a resolution in Congress calling for action to address the causes and effects of climate change.
That representative is Congressman Chris Gibson, of New York. Ten other Republicans joined as co-sponsors, including Frank LoBiondo, of New Jersey.
The resolution, introduced Sept. 17, notes that it is a conservative principle to protect, conserve and be good stewards of our environment and that it is a critical responsibility for all Americans to protect our nation for future generations.
The resolution observes that there has been a marked increase in extreme weather across the United States, including more frequent heat waves, extreme precipitation, wildfires and water scarcity. It states that the effects of climate change are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability and social tensions.
The resolution concludes with these words: “Resolved, That the House of Representatives commits to working constructively, using our tradition of American ingenuity, innovation and exceptionalism, to create and support economically viable and broadly supported private and public solutions to study and address the causes and effects of measured changes to our global and regional climates, including mitigation efforts and efforts to balance human activities that have been found to have an impact.”
Why is this event potentially momentous? Up until now, Republicans have seemed to be stuck in a rigid posture of denial — denial that global warming exists or, if it exists, denial it could be caused by humans or, if it is caused by humans, denial anything can or should be done about it.
Rep. Gibson’s resolution is a sign this rigid posture is changing. The resolution is a sign some Republicans know, in fact, there is neither a conservative nor a liberal view of atmospheric science.
It is a sign some Republicans have the courage to ignore threats of nonsupport from right-wing climate deniers in their party and are ready to step forward and take steps to deal with global warming and the threats it presents, including massive sea level rise and the associated exacerbation of storms, flooding and property damage.
It’s too soon to tell how far this resolution will go. More Republican co-sponsors could convince the House leadership to bring the resolution to a vote.
It would be a dramatic and hopeful sign if the other New Jersey Republican Congressmen, including Leonard Lance, R-7th, Chris Smith, R-4th, Scott Garrett, R-5th, Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th, and Tom MacArthur, R-3rd, signed on.
When — and there is little doubt it’s a “when,” not an “if” — Congress gets serious about addressing global warming, there is a method to deal with the cause of global warming — carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels that’s already largely worked out.
It’s supported by prominent conservatives such as Harvard economist Greg Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush and economic adviser to Mitt Romney, and George Shultz, former professor of economics at MIT and University of Chicago, and then-U.S. Secretary of Labor, secretary of the Treasury and secretary of state.
This method is a revenue-neutral carbon fee and rebate program. With this method, purveyors of fuels would pay a steadily-increasing fee based on the carbon content of that fuel, and the fee money would be returned to households.
Since it would be essentially revenue-neutral, it wouldn’t be a tax in the traditional since. Since it would place a steadily-rising fee on carbon, it would incentivize energy efficiency and low- and zero-carbon energy sources.
Analysis of the effects of such a method make it clear it would cut global warming-causing carbon emissions significantly and would not cost jobs or, otherwise, harm the economy.
It’s time for the rest of the New Jersey Republican Congressional delegation to join courageous Rep. Frank LoBiondo and sign on to Rep. Gibson’s resolution and commit to getting serious about dealing with global warming.
Mr. Aucott, a Pennington resident, is a retired research scientist for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, former chairman of the Hopewell Township Planning Board and a member of the Hopewell Township Environmental Commission. He is adjunct professor of chemistry at The College of New Jersey.
