When discussing climate change, U.S. Representative Buddy Carter is fond of reminding his colleagues and his constituents that his district encompasses the entire coast of Georgia, as if this fact imbues him with an especially acute understanding of the issue.
If only it were true. But alas, Mr. Carter consistently opposes legislative measures to curb the greenhouse gas emissions causing the climate to overheat.
Just last week, he appeared before the House Rules Committee (link to video) to oppose the reversal of the Trump administration’s rollback of an Obama-era rule that requires oil and gas companies to use the best available methods to control methane leaks.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. While not as long-lasting or as abundant in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, it is 84 times more potent in the short term. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of climate change would recognize the importance of employing every means at our disposal to cut methane emissions and quickly approve this measure.
All we get from Carter is confounding doublespeak about his concern for how climate change affects the Georgia coast and how doing anything about it hurts the economy.
Carter’s sophistry confused some of the committee members at first, but his insidious brand of climate denialism became more apparent the more he spoke.
Rep. Jim Mc Govern, the Chair of the Committee, thanked Carter for acknowledging that climate change is real when many others in the Republican Party still maintain that it is a hoax. However, he withdrew his praise after hearing more from Carter. McGovern then lamented that such a relatively small measure had inspired such strenuous opposition when adequately addressing the climate crisis will require that Congress do so much more.
Carter’s statements at this hearing should remove any doubt that he is a climate denier working hard to subvert even the most modest attempts to reign in emissions. For example, when asked by Rep. Jamie Raskin, “Any thoughts about us being in a climate emergency?” Carter replied:
“A lot of things. I think if you study this as I have, you will find out that this is very cyclical in nature. We’ve seen it throughout the years. You know, one of the things that you mentioned about California, about the flooding, and about the fires, well, let’s be honest with this now. I acknowledge that you are correct, that those things are happening, but there are other reasons that they’re happening – not just climate change. You know, it seems to be the recipe of the day these days that anything that happens is because of climate change. Well, that’s not necessarily the case. The only thing I will tell you is this. I never refer to this. I never refer to the select committee as the select committee on the climate crisis. I refer to it as the select committee on climate change. So, no, I don’t consider it to be a crisis. I think it’s cyclical. I think we can have an impact, and we have a responsibility to address some of the things that are happening with our climate.”
During a friendly exchange with like-minded Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, Carter’s inhibitions melted away and he proclaimed, “The most important thing we can do to help American industry solve the climate problem is to get out of the way. That’s what we could do. We could get out of the way.”
Chairman McGovern could only shake his head in disbelief at the outrageous notion that industry is capable of self-regulating its activities to benefit the common welfare. Such excessively obtuse and meandering statements might inspire laughter if the grim reality of the climate crisis was not looming in the foreground.
Thankfully, Carter failed to persuade the committee. SF Res 14 went to the floor for a vote, where it passed 229-191. It now awaits President Biden’s signature. Oddly, Carter did not vote.
In this instance, no harm was done, partly because even oil and gas companies support the methane regulations, which had bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House. Despite Carter’s claims that he is concerned about climate change, his words and actions demonstrate his unwavering dedication to ensuring that the U.S. government does as little as possible to regulate the primary cause - fossil fuel emissions.
The Georgia coast is experiencing erosion and flooding from sea-level rise, more intense and frequent tropical storms, and increasing occurrences of dangerously hot temperatures. These problems are bound to worsen because it is too late to prevent the rapidly accumulating harm caused by past emissions.
If we continue to empower politicians like Buddy Carter by tolerating such perfidious nonsense, all hope that we can salvage a livable world for ourselves and future generations, will be lost.