Why the GOP could turn the environment into a winning issue

Over the past few election cycles, the Republican Party has mostly ceded the issue of environmental policy to the Democrats. To understand why, the views of Conservatives on this issue must be summarized: First, Republican politicians do not necessarily believe that the environment is of supreme importance, and two, many leaders would rather pay attention to issues that they think are more relevant or important to their constituents. However, environmental policy will become a hugely relevant issue in the coming years, especially as the GOP seeks to expand its voting base, and to appeal to certain states. The common objection by Conservatives to a broad environmental policy is that it would require a large amount of unnecessary government intervention; however, this government intervention might be necessary. The government does not have a place to interfere between two consenting parties, but if a third party is affected, the government has a right to step in, as articulated by Milton Friedman. In addition, while climate change is not necessarily the apocalyptic disaster predicted by pundits and activists, it is still occurring, and presents challenges to people, states, and the county; thus, it is important to have reasonable and concrete solutions to solve environmental issues.

There are several ways the Republican Party can begin to make headway on these issues. To start, Republicans should stop shying away from fracking and pipelines for oil and natural gas. The reality is that fracking makes natural gas, a much cleaner fossil fuel, cheaper and more readily available, and pipelines provide a much safer method of petroleum transportation than the alternative, freight rail. The reality is that the country cannot shift away from fossil fuels all at once, so reducing dependency on coal and foreign oil will enable us to move in a cleaner direction. The second move to be made is to embrace nuclear and hydroelectric power as sources of energy. While wind and solar power are very much in vogue as energy sources, they are expensive, inefficient, and gathering materials for turbines and photovoltaics is incredibly toxic to the environment. Hydroelectric and nuclear sources provide efficient and consistent power and are safer per kilowatt/hour than any other form of energy. For example, the widespread use of wind and solar energy has caused an increase in carbon emissions in Germany, since seasonal weather changes have caused varying overloads and brownouts across the country, and fossil fuels have had to pick up the slack. Meanwhile neighboring France, which gets 75% of its energy from nuclear, has decreased carbon emissions. Finally, the GOP must apply free market principles to problems relating to the environment. As Elon Musk and Tesla have shown, there is a place in the free market for solving environmentally challenging issues through the lens of the market. These shifts can and will help the GOP move its environmental policy into the modern era.