Of course...

GOP taps energy-state conservatives for House climate panel

By ANTHONY ADRAGNA

House Republicans appointed several deeply conservative lawmakers from fossil fuel dependent states to a select committee Democrats launched this year to address climate change.

The GOP delegation will be led by Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves — who acknowledges the reality of climate change and has confronted sea level rise affecting his home state. But several other minority members of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis have questioned the scientific consensus linking burning fossil fuels to increasing temperatures and sea level rise. The panel will not include the only remaining House Republican actively pushing to tax carbon in order to reduce emissions.

In addition to Graves, McCarthy named Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and a Freedom Caucus member, to the panel. Also joining are fellow Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Morgan Griffith (Va.) and two freshmen — Reps. Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) and Carol Miller (W.Va.). The final Republican joining the ranks is Rep. Buddy Carter (Ga.).

Graves said he wants to work with committee Democrats to "advance an all-of-the-above energy strategy" that boosts the economy while protecting the environment.

"So far, the entire climate debate covers only part of the whole equation. Energy production and consumption, mitigation and adaptation, and shared responsibility must be discussed if we’re truly going to be 'global' in this important conversation," he said in a statement. "And at the risk of being self-serving, there is no better place on the planet to begin this conversation than coastal Louisiana. I’ll treat for lunch."

Graves, who first came to the House in 2015, cited climate change as one issue where he differs with his party in a 2016 interview. In picking him, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy offered his party’s public face on the panel to someone far less hostile to underlying climate science than much of the Republican caucus.

“Based upon my previous life and doing coastal issues, we have observed changing in climate,” Graves told The Odyssey. “To put your head in the sand and ignore that this is happening, I think is a real mistake for any party.”

The panel will not include Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), who has co-sponsored legislation that would have established a revenue-neutral carbon tax while pausing some EPA regulations. Also missing is Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), a doubter of the scientific consensus who chaired an earlier iteration of the climate panel and sought a spot on this one.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the panel, told POLITICO this week she expected to kick off formal activities shortly after the Republicans filled out their ranks.

Carter and Griffith both serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which would play a pivotal role in crafting future climate legislation.

Graves previously managed the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, but holds just a 3 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. He won his first race with the unusual backing of both the Environmental Defense Fund and the Koch brothers. Since arriving in Congress, he’s made oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers and examining coastal issues one of his top priorities.

Steve Cochran, associate vice president for coastal protection at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the congressman has been “smart, creative, energetic” at addressing adaptation issues relative to climate change, but it’s not clear what tone he will bring to a panel examining ways to reduce emissions.

“They’re going to need to wrestle successfully with social, economic, political stuff relative to emissions and I don’t think we know how that’s going to come out yet,” he said in an interview. “Garret has some experience in getting past ideology to get toward solutions ... It’s at least encouraging that Garret doesn’t feel the need to debate whether the issue is real.”

Outside allies of the Trump administration’s energy agenda welcomed Graves appointment.

“Garret cut his teeth as a staffer under [former Rep.] Billy Tauzin, who was the best at using hearings as political theater,” said Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance. “He will do just fine as ranking on a committee with no legislative or subpoena authority.”

Myron Ebell, energy and environment director with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which disputes the scientific consensus on climate change, said Graves "was not my first choice," but "I think he will do a good job and will be ably assisted by the other members appointed today, particularly Reps. Palmer and Griffith."

The other Republicans on the panel come from the party's right flank and have questions how responsible human activity is for climate change — even as some moderate GOP lawmakers say they would like to see the party put forward its own climate policies and stop questioning climate science.

Carter, for example, told a local newspaper last year, "I question sometimes how much of it is man-made but I acknowledge that we need to address it and I’ve always done that.”

Rooney described Graves as “pretty reasonable” and “really smart” on environmental issues, but said his exclusion from the panel showed most Republicans aren't ready to embrace solutions like a carbon fee that he’s championed.

”I’ll say first of all it shows that they’re not quite where I am yet and it makes me feel real good about being where I am," he said at a public forum in Washington Thursday. “It’s probably good that I’m not on it if they’re just going to use it as a political weapon.”

Environmental advocates welcomed the selection of someone who doesn’t dispute mainstream climate science, but challenged him to articulate a specific vision for how to address the crisis. Graves received $210,150 in contributions from oil and gas interests during the 2018 cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

“As someone who has seen first-hand the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels on coastal Louisiana communities, we hope that Representative Graves will heed his own past words and experiences and start supporting solutions to the climate crisis,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the senior vice president of government affairs for the League of Conservation Voters.