Former SC congressman talks conservative climate change solutions

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis believes there is a conservative solution to climate change.

Inglis, the former congressman for the state’s 4th District, founded republicEn.org, a group and website for conservatives looking for climate change solutions. Monday night, he spoke to a group of conservatives and religious leaders looking to do their part to combat climate change.

“A lot of people haven’t really heard a solution that fits with their values,” Inglis said in an interview Monday. “We want to show them there’s a small government solution that is completely consistent with the key value of conservatism, which is accountability.”

The event was sponsored by Spartanburg Green Congregations, a group of local congregations looking for ways to be better caretakers of the planet.

Rabbi Yossi Liebowitz, co-chairman of Spartanburg Green Congregations, said every major religion has a responsibility to care for the planet.

“In my tradition, as well as the Christian tradition, we have the fidelity of keeping God’s creation clean and secure,” he said.

Inglis said even he was late getting the message about the need for environmental protections.

“For my first six years in Congress, I thought climate change was nonsense. I didn’t know anything about it, except Al Gore was for it. Representing Greenville and Spartanburg, that was the end of it, for me,” he said. “I realize that is kind of ignorant.”

Inglis’ view on the matter changed after his oldest son, who was 18 at the time, came to him and said he would vote for him, but only if he improved his stance on environmental issues. After stints with scientific committees and doing some research, Inglis developed the plan he advocated Monday night.

He said a revenue-neutral, border-adjustable carbon tax would use conservative ideals and values to help the environment.

The tax would be attached to fossil fuels. Revenue from the tax would be used to cut taxes elsewhere, or would go back to people in the form of a refund, Inglis said. He said the plan would ensure the government didn’t grow as a result.

“The thing that mostly causes people to doubt the science is they don’t think there’s a solution that works. Most of us really do buy into science at the end of the day, right? If a doctor tells us to take medicine for cholesterol, we take it,” he said. “We do the things we think we can do relatively easily. I think that what most of the objection is the thought that ‘these people are trying to grow the government and run my life.’”

The issue has seen increased attention recently. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the country out of the Paris Climate Agreement has kick-started a curiosity about the ways to solve climate change, Inglis said.

Some people are taking the planned withdrawal from the Paris climate accord as a sign that doing nothing is no longer acceptable, he said.

“It may actually help us in a strange sort of way,” he said.

Both Inglis and Liebowitz said the issue is larger than political party or ideology.

People on both sides of the political aisle should be able to hear solutions different than their own to determine the best way to move forward with protecting the environment, they said.

“Our hope is to get theological conservatives and political conservatives engaged,” Inglis said. “Along the way, it got culturally marked as something that only progressives care about, when obviously we’re all in this together.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 7:50 AM with the headline "Former SC congressman talks conservative climate change solutions."