Supporting climate change policies aligns with conservation, conservative principles

Next week, I and other Republicans around the nation will have the privilege of participating in a virtual lobby session with Republican members of Congress. I will be meeting with members representing western NY and other parts of NYS. We will be asking Congress to support initiatives to address climate change with common sense solutions such as permitting reform and a carbon based tariff.

I have been a Republican all my life and living in a rural farming community has taught me that we all must live with and depend on the natural environment. We all have to be good stewards. It is not for one side of the aisle, it is for all the people.

It pains me to see politicians, across the spectrum, portray climate change as a partisan issue. Scientific knowledge transcends politics. There isn’t separate science for each side of the aisle. Advancing scientific knowledge is crucial to improving the human condition.

I also believe that respect for the environment does not conflict with free market capitalism. Subsidizing polluting unsustainable industrial practices (contrary to what some would have you believe) is not consistent with capitalist or libertarian principles. Reforming the permitting process would expand the economy by building out the electric grid. A carbon-based tariff would level the playing field for American business and hold our dirty trading partners to account.

I hope that Congresswoman Claudia Tenney will follow in the footsteps of Republican environmental giants of the 20th century like Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon and support solutions that harness the forces of capitalism to address environmental problems. By expanding clean energy we can strengthen U.S. leadership and competitiveness.

We at Citizen’s Climate Lobby support real solutions that favor jobs, economic growth and enhance our global competitiveness.

As a lifelong Republican and a member of Citizen’s Climate Lobby, I know that Conservation is Conservative!

Robert Johnson

Medina