Abby L. Harvey
GHG Daily
1/19/2016
The topic of climate change, which was largely glossed over during last week’s Republican presidential debate, came up several times during Sunday evening’s Democratic event, with the candidates pitching the issue as an economic opportunity. “We need to be bold and decisive. We can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said during the forum.
The other two candidates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, ranked climate-related actions on their list of priorities to be addressed within their first 100 days in office. “I would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women’s work,” Clinton said.
O’Malley, who is currently polling at 2.3 percent, went on the offensive during the debate. “I would like to challenge and invite my colleagues here on this stage to join me in putting forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean, electric energy grid by 2050. It can be done,” he said.
The candidate later attacked President Barack Obama’s “all of the above” energy policy, which O’Malley asserted doesn’t go far enough. “President Obama made us more energy independent, but in all of the above strategy didn’t land us on the moon. We need American ingenuity,” he said.
Sanders targeted a different mark: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. “The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems,” Sanders said, adding that, “It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.”
Sanders also called out the fossil fuel industry, asserting that it has bought Republican politicians to represent the industry’s special interests. “We have a major party, called the Republican Party, that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don’t even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists.”
