Billionaire clean energy advocate Tom Steyer joined with governors from four key states Tuesday to press presidential candidates to make climate change a key part of the Democratic debate tonight.
“At tonight’s debate, the Democratic presidential candidates have a unique opportunity to engage in a discussion about their specific plans to tackle climate change and grow our economy by creating good-paying, clean energy jobs,” the governors and Steyer said in a joint statement.
Steyer teamed up with Democratic Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington, Jack Markell of Delaware, Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania in pressing the presidential hopefuls on climate change ahead of Tuesday night’s debate on CNN.
“We encourage a robust debate on this issue to ensure that every candidate is prepared to take action on climate change and make clean energy a top priority in the White House.”
The governors implored that “individual states can’t solve this issue alone — the magnitude of the climate crisis requires leadership at every level of government.”
The governors said the next U.S. president must stand with the states to “take decisive action to cut carbon pollution and build America’s clean energy future.” Carbon pollution is generated from the burning of fossil fuels, which many scientists say is causing the Earth climate to warm, leading to more severe weather, droughts and flooding.
Steyer’s group, NextGen Climate, wants the U.S. to endorse an aggressive plan to supplant much of the nation’s fossil energy with solar and wind to create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the Resources for the Future environmental group in Washington suggested that the energy debate is much more nuanced than just addressing clean energy.
The group says the candidates more importantly must address how they will address oil and gas production in the United States, the role of the Environmental Protection Agency, and questions over contentious energy projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline.
Resources for the Future researchers say the “election cycle increasingly is introducing critical energy and environmental issues into our national political discussions.” They issued five questions meant for “all hopefuls” on the 2016 campaign trail.
The economists’ questions include:
How closely should the U.S. integrate its economy with Mexico and Canada to take advantage of Mexico’s energy reform and Canada’s abundance of oil and gas?
Sarah Palin famously was quoted as saying “Drill baby drill” as her oil and gas policy. Would yours be any different?
Many corporations support methods to address climate change like assessing a charge on forms of carbon pollution and using the revenues for goals like tax reform. Do you support innovative approaches to reduce greenhouse gases?
The Keystone XL pipeline has become a flash point. Some sources, like the State Department analysis, suggest adverse climate impacts are tiny. Others feel stopping the project has environmental merit. What is your position?
The EPA has been under criticism from many quarters. Do you support its role in administering the nation’s clean air and water laws? And if not, what changes would you advocate?
