Four Republicans Added to List of Clean Energy Champions
WASHINGTON — Four Republican lawmakers, two from the Senate and two from the House, have been named “Clean Energy Champions” by the Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.
The honorees are Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.
They will be honored Tuesday as part of the Washington-based nonprofit’s celebration of National Clean Energy Week.
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions advocates for a clean energy policy for the United States and was founded in 2013 specifically to engage Republican lawmakers in the national conversation about clean energy and promote the concept of energy policy as a nonpartisan issue.
Toward that end, each year it honors Republican leaders who it believes “have gone above and beyond in driving and supporting clean energy legislation,” the organization said in a press release.
Previous honorees include Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Reps. Elise Stefanik,R-N.Y., Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and John Curtis, R-Utah.
In recognizing this year’s class, CRES President Heather Reams said each of the lawmakers honored has “an impressive record of championing commonsense, all-of-the-above policy solutions to America’s most pressing environmental and economic issues.
“CRES thanks these distinguished congressional leaders for their countless contributions to the clean energy sector, and we look forward to continuing our collective work to advance domestic energy sources,” Reams said.
In explaining its choice of honorees this year, the organization noted that Sullivan’s support was critical to passing both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
“He has been a champion of all-of-the-above clean energy solutions through his work with Senators Cramer and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., to release the American Energy, Jobs, and Climate Plan — a Republican-led initiative to protect America’s future by lowering global emissions while bolstering the U.S. economy—which CRES also supports,” it said in a written statement.
In addition to his leadership in crafting the American Energy, Jobs, and Climate Plan, CRES said Cramer has called for commonsense reforms to regulatory obstacles, such as legislation to improve the quality and timeliness of federal permitting and review processes with respect to critical mineral production on federal land (S.1352).
As for the House honorees, the organization lauded Newhouse, chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus, as “a steadfast leader in advancing the clean energy industry in the state of Washington and across the country.
“He is a co-sponsor of many CRES-endorsed legislative initiatives, such as the Hydropower Clean Energy Future Act, the American Critical Mineral Independence Act, the Geothermal Production on Federal Lands Act, and the Save Our Sequoias Act,” the group said.
It recognized Miller-Meeks as a Republican leader in the effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and noted that she was a member of the first-ever GOP-only delegation to attend the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Miller-Meeks is also a co-sponsor of the SUPER Act, legislation that requires the U.S. Department of Energy to establish programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the production of iron, steel, and steel mill products.
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