Republican Jay Faison Launches Super PAC to Boost Clean-Energy Candidates

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March 3, 2016

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by Rebecca Ballhaus (The Wall Street Journal) Republican millionaire Jay Faison is pushing his party to embrace clean energy, saying conservatives don’t need to be on the defensive on climate issues.

The North Carolina businessman this week launched a super PAC that will spend at least $5 million on behalf of about a dozen congressional Republicans who embrace clean-energy policies. That effort comes on top of a 501(c)(3) non-profit, called the ClearPath Foundation, that launched last summer with $165 million in funding from profits Mr. Faison earned selling his company a few years earlier.

Mr. Faison advocates market-based rather than government-focused methods for promoting clean energy. He supports speeding up government approval of natural gas exports and says he wants to reduce government regulation to expand innovation in the clean-energy industry. His foundation has also invested in several solar energy projects.

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On the stump, Republicans frequently deny the existence and importance of climate change and mock Democrats’ focus on the subject.

Front-runner Donald Trump frequently ridicules President Barack Obama for calling climate change a significant threat to future generations, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has said policies aimed at curbing climate change would “destroy” the American economy.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have already unveiled proposals to expand clean-energy production, and make climate change a regular feature in their stump speeches.

In an interview, Mr. Faison said broad consensus on climate change isn’t necessary to create a clean-energy platform. “If we expand our clean energy technologies, we’ll create more jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy … and reduce carbon pollution,” he said. “You would do this on its merits even if you believed that climate change was not a threat. … Who’s not for more innovation and less regulation?” READ MORE and MORE (Christian Science Monitor)

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