Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Environment

Bernie Sanders: Climate change will lead to international security crises

SANDERS: Well, that's what the CIA and the Department of Defense tell us. If we are going to see an increase in drought and flooding and extreme weather as a result of climate change, what that means is that peoples all over the world are going to be fighting over limited natural resources. When you have drought, when people can't grow their crops, they're going to migrate into cities. And when people migrate into cities, and they don't have jobs, there's going to be a lot more instability, a lot more unemployment. And people will be subject to the types of propaganda that al Qaeda and ISIS are using right now. I think, when we talk about all of the possible ravages of climate change, which, to my mind, is just a huge planetary crisis, increased international conflict is one of the issues that we have got to appreciate will happen.

Donald Trump: Cut the EPA; what they do is a disgrace

TRUMP: Environmental Protection, what they do is a disgrace. Every week they come out with new regulations.

Q: Who's going to protect the environment?

TRUMP: We'll be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, but you can't destroy businesses.

Donald Trump: Eminent domain is a very useful tool for job creation

Carly Fiorina: New EPA regulations will destroy livelihoods & industries

Inside an agricultural equipment shop, Fiorina spoke to a crowd of around 250 people on the future of rural America. She says as the EPA controls more of the water in the United States, agriculture is being destroyed. By the end of August the EPA will control 95% of the water in Iowa, she said. Fiorina believes the EPA is standing in the way of affordable and reliable electricity.

Carly Fiorina: EPA thinks that a fish is more important than 1000's of jobs

To combat any "festering" problems, she said the economy will grow if regulations and power are lifted from the government. To help get the economy of the country on track, Fiorina reiterated two ways to get debt and deficit under control: grow the economy and cut spending.

Fiorina feels economy growth is being prevented by government spending. She is in favor of a zero-based budget, a "revenue-reducing tax reform," and would like tax codes simplified. "We need a government that's smaller. We need a government that's more responsive. We need a government that's not crushing the potential of this nation. But we also need a government that is competent, not inept."

John Kasich: We should not worship environment like pantheists

Mike Huckabee: Climate change is questionable; address other issues instead

HUCKABEE: Whether it's man-made or not, I know that when I was in college I was being taught that if we didn't act very quickly, that we were going to entering a global freezing. Go back and look at the covers of Time and Newsweek from the early '70s. We were told that if we didn't do something by 1980, we'd be popsicles. Now we're told that we're all burning up. Science is not as settled on that as it is on some things. I find it interesting. The Left has completely embraced the Pope's message on climate change.

Q: So what should be done?

HUCKABEE: Climate change is the wrong question. We should instead focus on good, stable energy prices and making America an exporter of energy not just for economic reasons but quite frankly to disrupt the balance of power with Russia, Iran, and the Saudis. This is a game changer. And America needs to be using the resources that it has to empower Americans, help poverty, and also change the global balance.

Lindsey Graham: Climate change is real, but don't make a religion of it

I would like to clean up the air and water, become more energy independence, create jobs. I'm for offshore drilling. I'm for finding oil and gas that we own. I'm for coal, I'm for clean coal, I'm for natural gas but I would like a lower carbon economy over time. Clean up the air and create jobs in the process.

Jeb Bush: 1990s: Compensate landowners; 2010s: state-run conservation

Bush insists that he will not contort himself to satisfy ideologues, but his views have already changed--in presentation, in tone, in language and, at times, in substance.

A useful case study: the environment. Before the 1994 election, Bush supported a state constitutional amendment, also backed by big corporations, to compensate landowners hurt by conservation efforts. He held out the prospect of cutting funds for a major program to purchase environmentally fragile lands and declared that "excessive regulation does not mean we are going to improve the quality of water, air or land-use planning."

But Bush met with conservation experts and toured important environmental sites across Florida. When he was elected four years later, "his heart changed," an adviser said.