OPINION:
Our political parties cannot message environmental policy effectively; Democrats push the doomsday narrative to support every new legislation, while Republicans opt for virtually no platform except to highlight glaring hypocrisies on the left.
Democrats want to declare war on the energy sector and adopt policies that call for sacrifices by average Americans, and carve out select groups and companies from those sacrifices. It has been refreshing to see House members like John Curtis and Dan Crenshaw introduce nuclear energy at COP26. Still, the GOP is more focused on “owning the libs” than being a true partner on environmental policy.
Compromise and leadership are critical on this issue; the U.S. cannot arbitrarily reinvent the energy sector. Democrats want to get from A to D — from fossil fuels to carbon neutrality — by skipping the B and C, the costs of which are borne by average Americans.
Congress and the administration need to define the conditions required to get to carbon neutrality and form a meaningful strategy to accomplish it without punishing the energy sector and the American people. A strong majority of Americans consider climate change an important issue and believe the federal government is doing too little. Dogmatic claims that Americans’ homes are sinking into the ocean, and every volcano eruption is a sign of global warming will not work. Repeating the “climate hoax” talking points is unproductive. Both parties need a strategy and must make their arguments to the American people. The political system is responsive and will inform where there are opportunities for compromise.
The renewable energy market is arbitrary and propped up by billions of dollars in government spending, subsidies and top-down market pressures. Wind and solar energy firms have the highest market caps despite producing far less consumable energy than oil, gas, coal, or nuclear power. Democrats tout green energy and then attack space moguls. Presidents reverse each other on pipelines and oil production. States have conflicting laws.
The result is a stifling of innovation and investment critical to helping this country transition — the B and C. Lack of planning is crushing the market for renewable energy, which must be profitable for a transition to carbon neutrality to work. We need organic growth, not perpetual subsidies and infused taxpayer money. Viable technologies and firms will thrive in the market without being propped up by the government.
The country needs resource management based on accurate accounting, consumption, and market trends. The conversations must shift toward survivability, and how resources are managed and consumption can be coordinated across the country. This will inform where the pressure points exist, where there is a scarcity, or it is cost-prohibitive. Reasonable sacrifices and offsets can then occur. American resiliency will overcome these sacrifices if there is competent leadership. Americans must have confidence in the country’s economic survivability for the transition to work.
Lastly, there must be a legislative compromise. The binary choices of doomsday or hoax are non-starters for any legislation. Americans are not extreme, as proven every election. Talking points and debate strategies must reflect that, focusing on survivability, resource management, and transition. Legislators should scrutinize existing practices and call out arbitrary, extreme policies. They should embrace the energy sector in its entirety, such as building more coal plants, investing in nuclear energy like the U.N. climate report suggested.
The U.S. also needs to look outward and especially to the Arctic. Within 200 miles of the North Pole are billions of barrels and cubic feet of oil and natural gas, minerals, hydrocarbons, and half the world’s fish stock. The Arctic will be a flashpoint for resource competition, and the U.S. is well behind its allies and rivals on how to address it.
Clearly articulated, consistently enforced, economically sound policy focused on survivability and resource management is the best way to transition the economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Alienating business leaders, picking winners and losers in the green energy market, and passing on the costs and sacrifices of environmental policy to average Americans will lead to political backlash and inaction. The U.S. cannot fast forward to carbon neutrality under the guise of doomsday and make daily life dramatically more expensive and disruptive (especially when policymakers do not comply themselves).
This country is about innovation and investment. Tone down the rhetoric. Focus on resource management, not elimination. Foster an organic market for environmental stewardship. Use this transition period for legislative compromise. These are the only ways to get us from A to D without skipping B and C.
• Richard Protzmann is an attorney in Southern California has been published several times at Real Clear, The Daily Caller, and Marine Corps University.
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