Dear editor:

The recent kudos directed to Rep. Buddy Carter couldn’t be more misinformed and dangerously misleading.

A letter heaped praise on Carter for his assistance in securing federal support for expanding Fort Frederica. 

Whatever the merits of that endeavor, surely informed, intelligent readers are compelled to evaluate Carter’s performance using far broader, more revealing standards.

For instance, despite Carter being a member of Congress’s House Committee on the Climate Crisis – with access to an abundance of information explaining the overwhelming conclusions of climate scientists about greenhouse gases released by the combustion of fossil-fuels – he continues stating doubts about scientific findings that humans are the primary cause of the disastrous overheating of Earth’s climate.

Carter’s support for the fossil-fuel industry with his denials and misdirection – spreading fabricated skepticism about climate-change – will cause increasing harm for coastal Georgians, including rising sea-level, flooding, public health threats, and damage to vital marine fishery habitats – among many other destructive impacts. 

Additionally, as most will recall, Carter notoriously betrayed Georgians by repeatedly voting in favor of offshore filling, defying a resolution passed by the General Assembly.

Furthermore, consider Carter’s unconditional support of Trump’s proposal to drill and harvest timber in federal Alaskan wilderness, some of the nation’s most justifiably prized and safeguarded conservation areas.

By these more inclusive performance measures, Rep. Carter clearly demonstrates greater allegiance to reckless corporate opportunists than to his constituents.

Instead of praising Carter, informed citizens and voters should be rebuking him for failing to serve the interests of Georgia’s first district.

David Kyler

Center for a 

Sustainable Coast