Today, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Executive Director James Dozier’s op-ed on energy ran in Roll Call:
“Recently, President Barack Obama unveiled his new plan to combat global climate change. In the weeks and months ahead, the actors on both sides of this needlessly partisan political drama will play their parts and stick to the script. Most Republicans will charge the White House with over-reaching and most Democrats will counter that Republicans are doing nothing to deal with the energy and environmental challenges we face.
The truth lies somewhere in between, and the American people have seen this movie before. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
At the end of May, Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander gave a speech on the future of energy. Alexander laid out four principles to guide the path forward: cheaper, not more expensive energy; clean, not just renewable energy; research and development, not government mandates; and a free market, not government, picking winners and losers.
The press described Alexander’s speech as a “maverick GOP vision” and described his remarks as “bold,” noting a deep schism in the Republican Party on energy
It is true that Alexander is in the minority among his GOP colleagues on the Hill, but is he out of step with where rank-and-file Republicans are on these issues? No.