The Republican Party has a number of outspoken climate change deniers; so, it was a relief to open today’s New York Times and read this headline: “A Republican Case for Climate Action.”

I couldn’t read the accompanying op-ed fast enough. Written by four former EPA administrators under Republican presidents, the article immediately said this:

We served Republican presidents, but we have a message that transcends political affiliation: the United States must move now on substantive steps to curb climate change, at home and internationally. There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts …

I began silently cheering as sentence after sentence laid out powerful arguments and evidence for why the U.S. must act immediately to counter the sources and impacts of climate change. But here’s the most amazing statement of all:

President Obama’s June climate action plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress … Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in Congress should endorse them and start the overdue debate about what bigger steps are needed and how to achieve them—domestically and internationally.

And it just got better from there, ending with words that Earthjustice itself might have written:

Mr. Obama’s plan is just a start. More will be required. But we must continue efforts to reduce the climate-altering pollutants that threaten our planet. The only uncertainty about our warming world is how bad the changes will get, and how soon. What is most clear is that there is no time to waste.

Wow.