The candidates on natural gas, climate change and energy
Which presidential candidate do you support? Do you know how your candidate feels about natural gas, climate change and energy? This column summarizes each candidate’s position on these issues. A more complete discussion can be found at www.ballotpedia.org.
This week, we will focus on the Democratic candidates. Next week, we will take a look at the Republican candidates.
On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton is opposed to off-shore drilling, even though the Obama administration proposed opening up vast tracts of the ocean for drilling. Clinton said in a December 2015 South Carolina radio interview, “I am very skeptical about the need or desire for us to pursue offshore drilling off the coast of South Carolina, and frankly off the coast of other southeast states.”
And in January she signed a pledge designed by NextGen Climate, a San Francisco-based environmental advocacy organization, to power at least half of the nation’s energy needs with renewable sources by 2030. In response to the Paris Agreement adopted on Dec. 12, Clinton released the following statement, in part: “I applaud President Obama, Secretary Kerry and our negotiating team for helping deliver a new, ambitious international climate agreement in Paris. This is an historic step forward in meeting one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century – the global crisis of climate change … We cannot afford to be slowed by the climate skeptics or deterred by the defeatists who doubt America’s ability to meet this challenge.”
Clinton’s campaign announced on Nov. 11, a $30 billion plan to benefit coal communities as the nation’s electric grid shifts to cleaner energy sources, TIME Magazine reported. Clinton’s plan would invest in building roads, bridges, water systems and airports in Appalachia and other coal areas, expand broadband access, increase public investment in research and development and labs. She would expand a “major public works project,” according to a campaign white paper, aimed at producing clean energy through hydro power on federal lands.
As president, Clinton would also find ways to replace local revenue for public schools lost when coal production facilities disappear, to ensure that that workers at bankrupt coal companies keep their benefits. She would also award grants for efficient housing upgrades and community health centers in coal communities.
Clinton’s climate change policy focuses on two national goals: install 500 million solar panels by the end of her first term and generate enough renewable energy to power every home in 10 years. Regarding fracking, Clinton spoke about the benefits of natural gas and the possibility of exporting it at the National Clean Energy Summit. She also expressed concerns about methane leaks and the need to regulate fracking. She disapproves Shell being permitted to explore the Arctic for oil. “The Arctic is a unique treasure. Given what we know, it’s not worth the risk of drilling,” she wrote.
Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders opposed the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a natural gas pipeline cutting through New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Sander’s communications director explained the candidate’s opposition. “The truth is: there are lots of reasons to oppose this pipeline. There are justified concerns around abuse of eminent domain to seize private property, the route would go through historic towns and conservation sites and as with all pipelines, there could be leaks or spills,” he said.
Sanders introduced the Keep It in the Ground Act on Nov. 4, to prohibit “offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic and stops new leases and ends nonproducing leases for offshore drilling in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.”
Sanders also signed the NextGen Climate pledge to power at least half of the nation’s energy needs with renewable sources by 2030. According to CNN, Sanders said, “This planet and its people are in trouble. Unless we get our act together, we will see in years to come more droughts, more floods and more extreme weather disturbances … It is absolutely vital that we act boldly to move our energy system away from fossil fuels. That’s why I have proposed a comprehensive plan to put people before polluters and reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 by putting a tax on carbon and making aggressive investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
On Dec. 10, Sanders introduced the Climate Protection Justice Act “to establish a price on carbon pollution” and “cut total emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, fund historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies, return billions of dollars to working families and protect the most vulnerable communities.”
And Sanders co-sponsored the Carbon Pollution Transparency Act of 2014, which proposed requiring “the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to calculate a carbon score for legislation,” which would be the basis for future regulation or government action.
Both Sanders and Clinton opposed the Keystone XL Pipeline. In contrast, the Republican candidates favored the pipeline.
(David Pearl is Vice President of Infinity Resource Group, Inc., a professional mineral rights consulting firm, specializing in the leasing and sale of mineral rights in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. He is also managing director of a natural gas fuel dispensing patent holding company and director of a natural gas fuel island development company. Your questions are welcomed by calling 412-535-9200 or by emailing IRGOilGas@gmail.com.)