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Letter: Republicans are ignoring climate change

(Sarah Zimmerman | AP file photo) Protesters flood the steps of the Oregon State Capitol Tuesday, June 25, 2019, to push back against a Republican walkout over a climate change bill that has entered its sixth day in Salem, Ore. The president of the Oregon Senate said Tuesday there weren't enough votes in his majority Democratic caucus to approve a landmark climate bill that has sparked a walkout by Republicans and left other key issues such as the state budget in limbo.

I’m a lifelong Republican and I’m disappointed that more Republicans politicians aren’t taking action to mitigate climate change.

I was a delegate at the 2018 and 2020 Republican conventions. I received over a hundred emails from the Republicans candidates. In 2018, two of these candidates implied that humans were not causing climate change and the rest of the 2018 candidates did not address this issue. In 2020, only one candidate mentioned climate change but he mentioned it to criticize his Republican rival for supporting action to mitigate climate change while governor of Utah.

In other countries, conservatives are concerned about excessive government regulation, but support taking action on climate change.

I’m pleased that Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. John Curtis are concerned about climate change. And I’m pleased that Gov. Gary Herbert is concerned about air pollution.

It’s time for other Republican officeholders to acknowledge human-caused climate change as a threat and take action to mitigate it.

Russell Patterson, West Valley City

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