A shift for GOP on climate change?

WASHINGTON — For years, Republicans have questioned humans’ contribution to climate change, casting doubt on the well-established scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil and other fossil fuels are causing the planet to warm dangerously.

But as Democrats push the issue further into the spotlight, more and more House Republicans are themselves calling for action on climate change —even in oil-rich states like Texas — raising the prospect the party is shifting after a decadelong stalemate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The change in tone was on display at a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this month, when one Republican after another said climate change was a problem. The committee’s top Republican, Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., wrote a letter to Democrats asking that “the committee work together to find bipartisan climate solutions.”

It was enough to catch the attention of one of the witnesses at the hearing, Rich Powell, executive director at ClearPath, a political group advocating for conservative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Everyone was saying this is real, its human-caused by industrial activity and we need to get on board finding a solution,” he said. “It’s a pretty significant evolution of the conversation.”

The prospect of a Republican shift on climate comes amid increasingly dire forecasts of rising oceans and crop failures, with scientists warning governments must take action immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such a move would likely drastically slash demand for fossil fuels like oil, a centerpiece of Texas’ economy, inciting fierce partisan battles on Capitol Hill that have so far brought any attempt at a legislative solution to a halt.

Trickle down

Republican interest in climate change is not unique, just infrequent. Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain called for “mandatory reductions” in greenhouse gas emissions during his 2008 campaign. Former Republican secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz have pressed Congress to adopt a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, with proceeds going back to taxpayers through a dividend check.

Such moderate points of views appear to be trickling down into the ranks of the party. In the last Congress, a caucus on climate change counted 45 Republican House members.

“People focus on the most ardent deniers who just parrot the conservative line,” said Frank Maisano, a Washington media consultant whose clients include fossil fuel companies. “But there are plenty of Republicans saying, ‘I don’t necessarily believe what the climate groups believe, but I’m not saying this isn’t serious.’ ”

Public skepticism on climate change is becoming more difficult to maintain politically, as more Americans believe climate change needs to be addressed — 60 percent now say they are “alarmed” or “concerned,” according to a survey by Yale University.

Rep. Bill Flores, R-Waco, was long among the skeptics. During his 2012 re-election campaign he described the climate change movement as “petty politics based on dubious ‘agenda-driven, scientific’ research.”

Nowadays, Flores can be found telling other members of the House Energy Committee about the solar system heinstalled on his roof — “the largest residential solar system in Central Texas” — and advocating for a market-driven approaches to climate change such as investing in batteries and other clean energy technology rather than regulating emissions.

“I have become much more knowledgeable about this particular policy issue than I was before,” Flores said in an interview. “I’m excited about the opportunities for America to be a leader in emissions reductions. We just need to make sure we get the policy right, then let American know-how and ingenuity get us there.”

Other Republican members of Texas’ congressional delegation, including Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, declined to be interviewed for this story. But Flores is hardly alone among Texas politicians speaking out on climate.

Since progressive Democrats began pushing the creation of a “Green New Deal” to rapidly shift the U.S. economy from fossil fuels through massive government spending on renewable energy, Republicans in Washington have been quick to denounce the method, but not the aim.

In a speech on the Senate floor last week, Cornyn said, “People think about Texas, they think about oil and gas, but we believe in all of the above. I actually think moving toward cleaner and renewable energy is a good thing.”

Baby steps

But advocating for clean energy is a long way from voting for legislation, such as carbon taxes or tougher environmental laws, that would reduce demand for fossil fuels. And with President Donald Trump in the White House, who has repeatedly questioned government assessments of the national security threat posed by climate change, most in Washington expect any substantial change in the law to be years off, if not more.

“It’s a baby step forward. It’s just a baby step,” Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, said of Republicans’ acknowledgment of climate change. “This is a massive problem and we need big comprehensive solutions. But at the same time we still have (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell, a climate denier, and the most anti-environment president we’ve ever had.”

Following the midterm elections last year, political pressure is increasing on Republicans to acknowledge climate change. Republican governors in states such as Wisconsin and Colorado lost reelection to Democrats campaigning on promises to shift away from fossil fuels

At the same time, U.S. industry is moving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even the Texas oil giant Exxon Mobil has directed political spending to aid the creation of a carbon tax, which would penalize the biggest producers of greenhouse gases while providing incentives to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions.

Potential areas for cooperation between the parties include modernizing the electric grid, directing research money to batteries and other energy storage technology, and funding reforestation, which would increase the number of carbon-consuming trees. Already, Republicans have worked with Democrats to expand tax breaks for carbon capture technology, which most experts believe to be essential to reaching the goals laid out in the international agreement on climate change reached in Paris in 2015.

But finding votes necessary to pass more substantial legislation is likely to prove far harder.

The last time climate change legislation came up for vote was in 2009, when former Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman, of California, and now Sen. Ed Mar-key, of Massachusetts, introduced legislation to create a cap and trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions.

The bill passed the Democrat-controlled House with only eight Republican votes. After months of negotiations with Senate Republicans, the bill never got a vote on that chamber’s floor.

Wake-up call

For now, the debate over climate change is squarely focused on the Green New Deal, proposed as a massive public works program on the scale of its namesake, the New Deal launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Flores, like most Republicans and many Democrats, is highly critical of the Green New Deal. But he conceded it might have a positive effect, politically speaking.

“The good news about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it’s a wake-up call for Americans to look at different ways to deal with climate change.” james.osborne@chron.com twitter.com/osborneja