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BYRON CENTER, MI – In a departure from recent events hosted by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, his 8th town hall of the year featured one common discussion point: climate change and global warming.
The town hall, held at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center in Byron Township, was Amash’s 3rd this week, and marked his 8th such meeting with constituents since the beginning of the year.
Though he’s touched on the topic of climate change before, every answer from Amash seemed to leave constituents wanting more, prompting even more questions on the topic.
Discussion of global warming kicked off early in the night when a crowd member asked Amash if he voted against the Great Lakes Restoration bill. Amash said he did, because it was included among other legislation he does not support.
The same audience member asked his stance on global warming.
“I believe the climate changes,” Amash said. “The question is, what do you do about it? The data set we’re dealing with is very small.”
The congressman’s answer was met with boos from a majority of the audience.
“(The data set) is factually very small, unless you think the earth is only a couple thousand years old,” Amash said. “We have to take that into consideration.”
He offered an unpopular solution to global warming: a strong economy.
“A strong and prosperous economy is what helps keep the environment clean,” Amash said. “The stronger the economy, the more your country innovates.”
The crowd wasn’t buying his answer. His response was, yet again, met with a chorus of boos.
Later, a woman asked what Amash’s constituents can do to change his mind on global warming.
Amash reminded her that he represents about 700,000 people in Michigan’s 3rd congressional district. That’s a lot of people with differing views, he said.
“It’s easy to say, well all the people around me have the same views,” Amash said. “But I deal with a large district. People have different views on many things and I have to take that into consideration.”
After several more questions about global warming, the conversation shifted to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Amash has said in the past that, while he supports the EPA, he thinks the organization frequently oversteps its bounds, especially when it gets involved at the community level.
“I do think the federal government has a role in the environment,” he said. “There are places where the EPA should have a role, but I do think the EPA overreaches. I do support eliminating the EPA’s authority over those things.”
