Environmentalists said Wednesday that a new survey shows that Republican presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz “won’t do anything” to protect the environment, and instead would boost the oil industry.
In a survey with the pro-fossil fuel industry American Energy Alliance, Trump and the junior senator from Texas voiced a number of pro-industry positions and vowed to review, if not repeal, President Obama’s signature environmental regulations.
Khalid Pitts, political director at the Sierra Club, said their views weren’t surprising.
“In the least surprising news of the day, Republicans running for president won’t do anything to address the climate crisis and would attempt to dismantle the safeguards that keep our water safe and our air clean,” he said. “These questionnaires read more like love notes to oil and gas corporation CEOs than serious energy policy plans.”
In the survey, Trump and Cruz agreed on a number of points. Both candidates stated the Obama administration exceeded its authority with the Clean Power Plan, which sets emissions goals for states on new and existing power plants, and on the Waters of the United States rule, which regulates which bodies of water are protected by the Clean Water Act.
Both candidates reject the theory that humans are changing the climate, and said they would review the federal government’s finding that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas. Many scientists blame the burning of fossil fuels, and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, for causing climate change and the subsequent warming of the globe.
Trump and Cruz were the only remaining presidential candidates to respond to a questionnaire from the American Energy Alliance. The questionnaire was also sent to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but the group had not heard back from those campaigns as of Wednesday morning.
