Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said protecting the environment had become a national security issue, as well as an economic one, and vowed to fight global climate change during a roundtable discussion in North Bend Tuesday, May 13.

The Arizona senator asked for input from environmental stewards, the president of REI, an Eagle Scout, a bank president, an organic farmer and others at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center, located on the edge of Seattle’s main drinking water source.

High gas prices hurting average Americans’ pocketbooks, combined with national security issues stemming from buying “more than $400 billion a year of imported oil from countries that don’t like us very much,” should “spark in this nation an incredible impetus for us to sit together, Republican and Democrat, environmentalist and business and banker, and retailer,” to tackle environmental issues, he said.

McCain spoke briefly about his “cap and trade” system proposal that would provide incentives for businesses to limit their carbon emissions in an effort to slow global warming.

The senator praised the cooperation of various governments that maintained high quality drinking water and green lands in the Puget Sound area.

“I promise not to do anything that would obviously affect this tremendous role model, of state, local and federal government working together to provide clean drinking water, and pristine area of this beautiful state,” he said.