CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2018: on Energy & Oil

Marco Rubio: Address rising sea levels by using natural gas & nuclear

RUBIO: I would say that that's not true. We are. We have funded this study in Congress to better understand sea level rise and changes in the climate, those are measurable. From a policy-maker [perspective], the question is, what policies can we change to deal with that human activity? If you look at U.S. today, we're cleaner than we used to be. Natural gas is a clean source. Nuclear energy is very clean. But you have to fight the same people to approve of that.

Marco Rubio: Solar panels are not realistic; focus on mitigation

RUBIO: We're cleaner than we used to be. Natural gas is a clean source. Nuclear energy is very clean. But no matter what we do with laws--if, tomorrow, let's say we went to all solar panels and did all that stuff, which is not realistic, this trend [of rising sea levels] would still continue. And so we're going to have to do something about the impact that it's having on low-level coastal areas. And that means mitigation, hardening--how we manage water. We have been working on that very hard and continue to, strategies to mitigate against those factors that are going to be in place no matter what happens with our energy policy. But I'm also not going to destroy our economy. There's a reality here and there's a balance on that end of it that we need to be focused on.