Green Elephant Line Media Backgrounder

House GOP Energy Plan Fails Conservative Test

June 11, 2009

After months of dithering and carping from the sidelines, House Republican leaders at last have released an alternative to the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

The bill has some positive features, some that should go into the round file, and one huge flaw – its lack of any measure to put a price on carbon.

Despite all of the green rhetoric at the plan's rollout, the bill fails to meet a basic, and conservative, standard of responsible stewardship. The House GOP's "all-of-the-above" energy plan is more of the same:

More of the same failure to take climate change seriously.

More of the same refusal to consider either a carbon cap or a carbon tax as a way to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions and send a signal to energy markets that free disposal of heat-trapping CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is no longer appropriate.

More of the same shopworn nostrums, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that would perpetuate America's dangerous dependence on oil, which, as a recent report from retired generals and admirals stated, "weakens international leverage, undermines foreign policy objectives, and entangles America with unstable or hostile regimes."

More of the same heavy-handed government mandates to force into the marketplace energy technologies that are not yet ready for commercialization, including shale oil and a closed nuclear fuel cycle.

The House GOP energy plan's positive features include technology development prizes and extending tax incentives for energy efficiency, renewables, and nuclear energy.

Still, the plan is deeply flawed. House GOP leaders have failed to offer an energy plan that is consistent with traditional conservative principles. They have failed to face facts about climate change and offer prudent measures to reduce climate change risks.

A telling exchange that GOP leaders don't get it took place on the June 10 "Morning Joe" program between host and former Congressman Joe Scarborough and Congressman Mike Pence:

Scarborough – "Do you agree with me and a lot of conservatives that there's nothing conservative about a country that has 4 percent of the world's population spending 25 percent of the world's energy?"

Pence – "Percentages I don't get as concerned about as the notion that appears."

House GOP leaders could offer a powerful alternative to the Waxman-Markey bill if they listened to ideas from within their ranks that take responsibility for confronting the climate challenge and offer creative approaches to the problem. A good example is a bill introduced by Congressman Bob Inglis (R-SC) and co-sponsored by Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) that would levy a carbon tax and return proceeds to American taxpayers through payroll tax reductions.

Another is Senator Bob Corker's (R-TN) "cap-and-dividend" proposal to cap CO2 emissions, auction all emissions allowances, and rebate the proceeds to taxpayers.

It's not too late for House GOP leaders to discard their stale energy proposals, open their minds, and let in some fresh ideas rooted in the traditional conservative ethic of good stewardship.