RONALD REAGAN WOULD FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

What would Reagan do about climate change?; It's a question Republicans for Environmental Protection are asking in radio ads, to show that concern about climate change is 'consistent with true conservative values' and to push legislation.
Richard Simon, April 3, 2010 (LA Times)

"…Radio ads asking "What would Reagan do?" are airing during the conservative talk shows of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck on stations in New Hampshire and are planned in other states in the drive to get Congress to act on global warming legislation…The ads, which include clips from Reagan speeches, are the work of Republicans for Environmental Protection. They come as a group of senators works to draft a bill that can attract bipartisan support.

"Though it may seem unusual to find President Reagan -- who frequently antagonized environmentalists -- in a campaign to promote environmental regulation, the group said the ads are designed to show that concern about climate change is [a conservative position]…"

click thru to climateconservative.org

[Ronald Reagan, 1984 speech to the National Geographic Society:] "What is a conservative after all but one who conserves, one who is committed to protecting and holding close the things by which we live…And we want to protect and conserve the land on which we live -- our countryside, our rivers and mountains, our plains and meadows and forests."

"Some environmentalists thought the ads were an April Fools' joke…Critics of climate-change legislation were taken aback, too…One of the ads cites Reagan's support of an international treaty to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals…David Jenkins, vice president for government and political affairs for Republicans for Environmental Protection…[said Reagan didn’t accept claims] that the problem was not real or that the economic cost would be too great…John D. Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, [discounted the ads as speculation]…"

click thru for Hayhoe's presentation on climate change

"A climate-change bill passed the House last year with the support of only eight Republicans. A large number of Republicans have objected that mandatory caps on emissions of power plants, factories and other businesses would increase energy costs and harm the economy.

"But some Senate Republicans are thought to be open to legislation because of the new jobs and reduced dependence on foreign oil that supporters say would could come from the development of alternative energy sources."