Former Colleague And Former Republican Calls On Lamar To Step Up On The Environment

By Kleinheider Posted on May 16, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Former Republican U.S. Senator Lincoln Chaffee says that Lamar Alexander has to save the GOP on the environment:

The GOP faces a potential blowout in November on a myriad of issues - Iraq, the economy, gas prices - and, certainly, its insensitivity to environmental issues.

If Republican senators are smart, they’ll start to break the pattern by speaking out against this EPA mistake. And not just the usual blue-state incumbents up for reelection: Gordon Smith of Oregon, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Susan Collins of Maine. Everyone expects them to protest, which means none of the party leaders will pay attention.

It needs to come from a Lamar Alexander of Tennessee or a Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. In 2005, they showed enough independence to sign on as co-sponsors of the Carper-Chafee compromise on reauthorizing the Clean Air Act. Lamar was committed because of air pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Judd had concerns about pollution in the Presidential Range in his state.

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