The Times of Northwest Indiana published an opinion piece applauding Republican bipartisan support for addressing climate issues, noting Indiana AEE’s recent jobs data. Read excerpts below and the entire Times of Northwest Indiana piece here.
Over the last few years, it has become clear that our goals of reducing emissions and expanding the economy are not mutually exclusive — and they reinforce each other. Nationwide, figures from the past decade suggest the decoupling of energy use and GDP growth, and in the Hoosier State, a recent report from Indiana Advanced Energy Economy affirms that the number of clean energy jobs has increased at a rate four times higher than the state’s overall jobs growth last year.
Voters are getting behind the trend, including increasing numbers of politically conservative individuals. Recent polling by the Indiana Conservative Alliance for Energy found that a solid majority (57%) of Indiana Republicans favor political candidates who will increase the use of renewable energy, including wind (57%) and solar (71%). Among younger Republicans across the country, this trend is even more apparent: a poll released this summer by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum and the American Conservation Coalition revealed that over three in four (78%) millennial Republicans support the government taking action to accelerate the development of clean energy.
Our elected officials are listening. In particular, Indiana’s own Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican, has embraced responsible approaches to protecting the environment while supporting the economy and jobs. Indiana voters sent him to Washington not to perpetuate problems, but to solve them, and he has delivered most recently by co-founding the bipartisan U.S. Senate Climate Solutions Caucus.
Braun should be applauded for his leadership. With the creation of this caucus, he plans to spread practical, economically-sound clean energy initiatives that align with conservative principles and will be able to gain bipartisan support.
“In its current state, our national conversation on this issue is too polarized, toxic, and unproductive. In this environment, American leadership is sidelined, instead replaced by partisan bickering. To us, this is unacceptable,” Braun wrote recently in an op-ed he co-authored with Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware...
Read the entire Times of Northwest Indiana piece here.