6th Democratic Primary Debate: on Energy & Oil
Amy Klobuchar:
Reverse Trump climate rollbacks and put a price on carbon
We need to get back into the International Climate Change Agreement. I will do that on day one. On day two, bring back the clean power rules, on day three, the gas mileage standards. I see the governor of California who has been working so hard to get
those done, defied every step of the way by the Trump administration. Then introduce legislation to put a price on carbon and build a bridge to the next century, which means we must upgrade buildings and building standards.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Show how investment in climate change will benefit Midwest
The way we take on climate change is by talking about what's happening in the Midwest. What we are seeing there is unprecedented flooding. We're seeing a 50% increase in home insurance. We have to make clear that money is going to come back to
those areas where jobs are going to change and to make them whole with their energy bills. When you make the case like that, you bring in the Midwestern votes, and the best way to do it is by putting someone from the Midwest at the top of the ticket.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Andrew Yang:
Supports next-generation thorium reactors
Other countries have had success with nuclear power and the next generation thorium reactors have a wealth of potential.
Thorium is not radioactive the way uranium is. It doesn't last as long and you can't make a weapon out of it. Whereas if we're going to innovate our way out of this, then we have to have nuclear on the table.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Joe Biden:
Tax credits for solar power on homes
Q: Three consecutive presidents have enjoyed stints of explosive economic growth due to a boom in oil and natural gas production. Would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth even knowing potentially that it could displace thousands of blue
collar workers in the interest of transitioning to that greener economy?Biden: The answer's yes, because the opportunity for those workers to transition to high paying jobs is real. We're the only country in the world's ever taken great, great crises
& turned them into an enormous opportunities. I've met with the union leaders. For example, we should, in fact, be making sure right now that every new building built is energy-contained, that it doesn't leak energy. That in fact we should be providing
tax credits for people to be able to make homes turn to solar power. We're now on the verge of having batteries that are about the size of the top of this podium that you can store energy when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Make all Americans part of the climate solution
All these plans we have to get carbon neutral by 2050, their impact is multiplied by zero unless something actually gets done.
That is why our vision for climate includes people from the auto worker to a farmer, so that they understand we are asking them to be part of the solution. Not telling them they are part of the problem.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Tom Steyer:
Nuclear isn't competitive: focus on wind & solar & batteries
The point about nuclear power is, it's not at the stage in the United States where it's competitive on price. It has a lot of risks to it in terms of disasters and we have no ability to store the toxins that come out of it and last a hundred thousand
years. We actually have the technology that we need. It's called wind and solar and batteries. So in fact, what we need to do, we can do. We've got to stop taking a look at this as something that we can't do because we can do this, and we can do it in a
way that rebuilds this country on an accelerated basis. Creates millions of union jobs and we come at it from the standpoint of environmental justice. This is our greatest opportunity to reinvent this country, to actually take on the biggest challenge
in history and succeed together. You want to pull the country together with all this partisanship? Let's take on the biggest challenge in history and succeed together as a nation. That's what pulls people together.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Tom Steyer:
Climate crisis is opportunity for good middle-class jobs
Not only can we clean up the air and water in the black and brown communities where our pollution is concentrated.
This is the opportunity to create literally millions of middle-class union jobs well-paid across the United States of America. Our biggest crisis is our biggest opportunity.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Dec 19, 2019
Page last updated: Dec 27, 2019