Motorists navigate rush hour traffic on Interstate 15 in Clark County. Rep. Jon Porter, who opposed tougher fuel efficiency standards two years ago, more recently has taken the position that Congress should act against global warming.
Beyond the Sun
Going green has never been more popular. Shop at a department store, get a reusable tote bag. Channel surf and see celebrities greening their mansions. Take a summer vacation, make it energy efficient.
But for politicians, greening their environmental record can be a trickier feat.
Case in point:
Republican Rep. Jon Porter wants to turn the nation’s rental car fleet green. Trade in every tourist Taurus for a Prius on the Strip and suddenly you’ve halved the amount of greenhouse gases emitted each year.
In Las Vegas, with all the visitors, the effect could be significant.
Except that these days, Porter’s idea may not get much airtime in the face of more dramatic efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Congress is gearing up for its first major debate on global warming legislation this summer. On its plate: whether to require that industries cap their carbon emissions and pay for any pollution above those levels. This would please the environmental movement, for which putting a price tag on pollution is the holy grail.
Critics worry such a “cap-and-trade” system for carbon emissions would drive up the costs of fuel and electricity. At a time of record-shattering gas prices, politicians are loath to take such steps, even for a greener planet. Yet scientists and economists worldwide believe such restrictions are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in time to halt global warming.
Bills such as the one Porter is considering are helpful steps, environmentalists say, but their eye is on the prize.
Tim Greeff, deputy legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters, said dramatic legislation is needed. Greening the rental car fleet “is helpful as long as it’s in addition to, and not in lieu of, a cap-and-trade bill.”
After years of disputing or ignoring global warming, Republicans are slowly beginning to shift their attitudes to catch up with popular opinion.
President Bush uttered the words “climate change” in his State of the Union speech for the first time in 2007, and last month said he shares concerns about “the effect of climate change on our environment.”
And the party’s presumed presidential nominee, Republican Sen. John McCain, has vowed to address global warming as a priority. He co-authored an earlier version of the cap-and-trade bill and told voters last year on the campaign trail, “Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution.”
Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said shifting the debate toward legislation that would mandate limits on greenhouse gases “is where the United States Congress should be moving.”
“The American people are light years ahead of their politicians,” said Berkley, who supports a cap-and-trade bill. “The Republican Congress and this president — this oil and gas man president — is fiddling like Nero when Rome burns.”
Porter’s environmental record has been getting greener since Democrats took control of Congress, much as the rest of his legislative record shows a more moderate shift since he barely won reelection in 2006 in his suburban Henderson district.
Porter broke with his party last year to support a resolution saying Congress should begin to enact a system to halt global warming. And he backed a Democratic attempt to require utility companies to get power from wind, solar or other green sources. (It failed.)
He earned an environmental score of 30 (out of 100) last year from Greeff’s group, up from zero just two years earlier, when he refused to back higher automotive fuel efficiency standards and supported the Republican plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Porter is faced with balancing the pop cultural shift toward environmentally friendly policies with the conservative streak that runs through Nevada politics. Even Democrats in this state are not necessarily tree huggers. Republican Rep. Dean Heller took an informal poll last year in his mostly rural Northern Nevada district showing 82 percent oppose paying higher prices at the pump to combat global warming.
Porter faces a tough reelection again this fall in a district that was once more politically split, but now has 20,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. In 2006, he won by fewer than 4,000 votes. His race just intensified now that state Sen. Dina Titus announced her intention to challenge him. She won the district when she ran for governor in 2006.
Porter’s spokesman said the congressman “applauds Senator McCain’s elevation of climate change on the campaign trail,” saying the presidential contender has tapped into “what many voters are talking about in Nevada.”
But whether Porter will support a cap-and-trade bill this summer remains uncertain.
Republicans point to the increased costs that could come from limiting greenhouse gases — as much as $1,300 per family by 2015 according to reports compiled by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Other studies cite similar price spikes.
Heller has repeatedly said he is opposed to tax increases to go green.
Republican Sen. John Ensign said Congress should capitalize on the possibility that global warming exists to turn the nation toward greener energy sources.
But as to whether climate change is the dire problem environmentalists make it out to be, the former veterinarian said, “One thing I learned about being trained in the sciences is, you question everything. When I was growing up the greenhouse gases were going to lead to an ice age. You continue always to question.”
Porter is weighing his views on a cap-and-trade bill. “He’s concerned about the costs and what sort of impact it would have on economic growth and domestic energy costs,” his spokesman said. “The congressman has always recognized that climate change is an issue, but at the same time he has supported a diversified domestic energy policy.”
In the meantime, he’ll continue working on his legislation that would give tax breaks to rental car companies that add hybrids or other green cars to their fleets.
Brendan Bell at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington said the legislation Porter is forming is a positive step. “It’s something we would applaud.”
“But every vote comes in context of your overall record,” Bell said. “We’re looking for leadership. We’re looking for people to solve the fundamental problem, which is climate change.”
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