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 "We have expanded our economy while protecting our environment,"
said Perry, who is openly exploring a second White House run in
2016.
It was a greener message than the one he delivered ahead of his last
presidential campaign, when he called climate change a "contrived
phony mess," and it reflects an expectation among some in the party
that voters in 2016 will want Republican candidates to develop a
more sophisticated climate change message.
"'I'm not a scientist' won't be a winner in the presidential field,"
Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said of the now common response
Republican lawmakers and candidates offer when asked about climate
change.
With the national party largely silent on the issue, conservative
environmental groups like ConservAmerica are stepping up efforts to
sharpen the Republican message. In recent months they have held
meetings for like-minded conservatives and met with lawmakers and
aides in a bid to help craft a new Republican environmental
platform.
Attempts to strike a softer tone will collide with entrenched
resistance, primarily from the donor network in the orbit of
billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who oppose any attempt
to regulate the oil, gas and chemical industries that are the
backbone of their empire.
Conservative political advocacy groups supported by the Kochs plan
to spend $889 million in 2016, the Washington Post said on Monday.
Those pushing the party to adopt a more palatable message on the
environment say it is possible to stake out environmental positions
that can appeal to young and independent voters without offending
the party's free-market, anti-regulation base.
Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the outgoing governor has long
called smart regulations in Texas "proof that economic growth and
environmental protection are not mutually exclusive."
ELECTORAL SHIFT
The search for a new message on climate change is driven by
electoral math.
While leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress have vowed to
block regulations to control carbon emissions, a poll by Yale
University earlier this month found that 56 percent of Republicans
support regulating climate-warming greenhouse gases.
"Red state disputation of science isn't going to work," said former
South Carolina congressman Bob Inglis, noting that voters skew
younger and more independent during presidential election cycles.
Inglis, who lost his seat in 2010 partly due to saying humans cause
climate change, went on to found the Energy and Enterprise
Initiative at George Mason University. The group wants to offer a
"ladder" to "get as many Republicans off the limb they are out on
regarding climate change," Inglis said.
ConservAmerica has a similar aim. The group wants the Republican
Party to embrace its history of conservation established by
President Teddy Roosevelt at the beginning of last century.
ConservAmerica dropped "environmental" from its name, stocked its
board with market-minded business leaders and recently brought on a
Washington strategist to coordinate conversations with dozens of
congressional offices.
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In a full-color brochure it takes to meetings, ConservAmerica urges
Republicans to consider crafting "market-based solutions" to climate
change. The domestic production of natural gas, nuclear energy and
vehicle efficiency standards are among suggested steps. Many have
been privately receptive, the group said.
Board member Paul Walker, who advises utilities and investment firms
on regulatory risk, said it was important that Republicans not cede
the issue to Democrats and take into account Wall Street’s
perspective.
Forums hosted by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES),
the Conservation Leadership Council and Concord51 have become a
venue for Republicans to start talking about climate change. In
early December, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte touted her
state’s use of technology to reduce coal plant emissions lest it
become the "tail pipe of the Midwest."
"I hope all of you in this room can count me in on it, and that we
can actually get to legislating on some of these issues," Ayotte
said.
An executive from a utility company in the northeast said he had no
idea a Republican environmental movement existed until he was
invited to the forum.
The schism within the party was apparent in a series of Senate votes
last week, when Democrats proposed amendments to a bill to
green-light TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline that would
transport crude oil from Canada's oil sands to the U.S. Gulf coast.
The symbolic amendments asked lawmakers to go on record about
whether climate change is real, not a hoax, and caused by human
activity.
Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
were among 15 Republicans who acknowledged a human role. Senators
Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas acknowledged climate
change, but not that it is caused by humans. All are potential White
House contenders.
(Reporting By Valerie Volcovici and Amanda Becker, editing by Bruce
Wallace and Ross Colvin)
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