Olivia Erfman-Tenzel, Yanni Psareas: Why Republicans should lead the way on energy, climate

Image via Palm Beach County.

The 118th Congress is underway, and U.S. House Republicans have rightly zeroed in on a top priority for Americans — energy.

Unsurprisingly, the response by Democrats has been to lecture the GOP on the topic.

But the fact remains that the Democratic playbook these past two years have contributed to skyrocketing costs, especially for energy — from filling up on gas to paying utility bills.

It’s clear this state and country are in need of a clear alternative. America needs policies that provide long-term stability for the U.S. energy sector and also steer the country to a cleaner, safer future.

Republicans are right to seize the opportunity to advance sound energy solutions that make power cleaner, cheaper and more reliable. This is what leaders nationally are doing with the House GOP energy package, HR1, and also what officials here in Florida — including Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott and Reps. Byron Donalds, Kat Cammack, and Maria Salazar — have long called for.

One would think environmental advocates would get behind even elements of HR1, like permitting, which would make it easier to bring energy projects online, benefiting their preferred renewables as well. However, many on the environmental Left are wholesale rejecting the package, embracing scarcity in opposition to the GOP energy abundance agenda. They instead want to double down on further big-government spending, introduce new business-choking regulations, and halt oil and gas production.

To stop these bad ideas and prevent the environmental left from monopolizing this discussion, Republicans should, to start, stand strong and stay the course. But they should also further strengthen their hand and add to their approach.

To go the distance and fully rev up America’s great innovative engine, Republicans should look to harness the power of market signals, which can spur economy-wide innovation without the heavy hand of the government. Instead of top-down regulations, trillions in new spending, and bureaucrats in Washington telling us what to do, a market-based approach like carbon pricing would clear the way for businesses and entrepreneurs to invest in new technologies that expand energy access and affordability.

This strategy is not only an alternative to the Left’s command-and-control Green New Deal tactics; it is a superior tool environmentally. By reducing regulations and providing policy certainty for businesses, this strategy would free American entrepreneurs to do what they do best. It would encourage U.S. energy exploration and innovation, reduce reliance on foreign markets, and build a more abundant energy supply here at home.

What’s more, the energy produced in America is already among the cleanest in the world. Despite what many on the left claim, expanding U.S. energy production would be one of the best things we could do for our environment and our economy.

In fact, seizing on America’s clean advantage is yet another opportunity for the GOP. Already, a growing corps of Congressional Republicans are looking to monetize U.S. superior environmental standards with an America-First trade policy known as a foreign pollution fee.

Currently, the rules of global trade today allow foreign polluters like China to flood global markets with cheap, high-emitting goods made under lax environmental standards. The status quo undercuts clean American producers and strengthens our adversaries.

With a foreign pollution fee, we could charge foreign producers for goods produced under inferior environmental standards. This would level the playing field for American producers, reward them for their clean production, and stop foreign competitors from out-gaming U.S. businesses. Especially in light of rising aggression by the CCP, an approach like this is needed more than ever.

On top of its policy merits, leading on energy and the environment is also smart politics for the GOP. The next generation of voters care about the issue of the environment and are paying attention to those who are leading on the topic and those who are turning a blind eye.

With this in mind, the Florida GOP has chosen to evolve and push forward on environment leadership — to its benefit. In the Midterms, Florida Republicans turned out a much higher proportion of young people than Republicans elsewhere.

This is an opportunity the rest of the country should pick up on, so that Republicans win over, not lose, the next generation of voters.

The GOP has everything to gain from seizing the lead on this issue. As we look ahead, we have a major opportunity to turn the usual narrative on its head by offering better, more effective solutions. With a sound agenda, we can ensure a clean environment, all while expanding American energy production for generations to come.

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Olivia Erfman-Tenzel is the president of the Southwest Florida Young Republicans. Yanni Psareas is a member of the Palm Beach YRs and the state director of Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends.