2019-2021 Town Halls: on Energy & Oil


Joe Biden: Allow fracking, but get to net zero emissions by 2050

Q: Do you support the continuation of fracking--safely and with proper guidelines--and growing the industry?

BIDEN: Yes, I do. I do. In addition to that, right now [there are] thousands of uncapped wells because a lot of companies have gone out of business, whether they're gas or oil facilities. We can put to work right away 250,000 people from iron workers and other disciplines, making union wages. Capping those wells that are leaking methane and their danger to the community.

Q: You said you won't ban fracking but did you wanted to gradually move away from it ultimately. Why should it fracking continue at all?

BIDEN: Well, fracking has to continue because we have transition, we're going to get to net zero emissions by 2050. And we'll get to net zero power admissions by 2035. But there's no rationale to eliminate right now fracking, number one. Number two, those jobs are out there, whether it's an iron worker, or a steel worker.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper Sep 17, 2020

Joe Biden: When I hear global warming, I think jobs

When Trump thinks about global warming, he thinks "hoax." When I hear global warming, I think "jobs." I'm going to make sure that we have 500,000 charging stations in our highways so we can all the electric car market, creating a million jobs and we can lead the world. And in Detroit, we can lead the world and making sure we move to electric vehicles.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper Sep 17, 2020

Pete Buttigieg: Have to break idea that choice is between climate and jobs

Q: How do you protect our climate and economy simultaneously?

BUTTIGIEG: There is no question there will be a transition. I'm proposing that we invest over $200 billion in supporting workers through that transition. But we also estimate that we will create at least 3 million net new jobs by taking the action we must, to mobilize and fight climate change. We've got to break this idea that we're choosing between doing the right thing for our climate and doing the right thing for our economy.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett Feb 18, 2020

Andrew Yang: Move subsidies from fossil fuel to wind and solar

I would zero out the billions and billions of dollars of subsidies that are going to these fossil fuel companies that are way, way past their sell-by date. I would take those subsidies, move them to wind and solar. And then I would put a price on carbon immediately so that polluters actually have to pay into a system that will help reduce emissions.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: Presidential/NYC Mayoral race Feb 5, 2020

Elizabeth Warren: Environmental standards in trade agreements

Q: You say you support environmental standards in trade agreements?

WARREN: You know, we won't let you pollute here in the US. It can't be the case that you get to produce these products and sell them in the US when you created huge carbon emissions somewhere else around the globe, because it hurts us all. What are those trade policies always driven toward? Not American workers. Not American consumers. Not American values. What have they driven toward? "Make giant multinational corporations more profitable." That's been it. They don't want to hear that we could put other restrictions on trade, that we could use trade to lift standards all around the world, that we could use trade to lift regulatory standards all around the world. And the reason for that is we have not had a government that is working on behalf of the American people. We've had a government and a trade policy that has been all about giant multinational corporations. That is corruption, and I plan to change it.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Would rejoin climate pact & propose new legislation

Climate change isn't happening 100 years from now. It's happening right now, and that's why as your president on day one I would get us back into the international climate change agreement. That's day 1. On day 2 and day 3, I would bring back the clean power rules that the Obama administration worked out that will make a big dent in this. I will bring back the gas mileage standards that they just left. I would propose sweeping legislations for green buildings and new ideas and we need to do this.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Bernie Sanders: End fossil fuel; move toward wind and solar

We have got to take on the fossil fuel industry and make it very clear that we are moving away from fossil fuel and not blaming people who work in the coal or gas or oil industry. All they are trying to do is feed their families. We can move aggressively toward wind and solar. We have got to rethink our transportation system and build the kind of state-of-the-art rail system that our country needs which will help us transport people and cargo in a much more nonpolluting way.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: Supports Green New Deal; invest in green infrastructure

I am a strong supporter of the Green New Deal. The first reason that I'm a strong supporter is it is a way to say urgency. Now, we cannot wait any longer. We have got to make change. The second part about the Green New Deal right now is it calls for a huge investment in our infrastructure. And I think that's just absolutely critical. And when I say our infrastructure, it's about our green infrastructure, it's about our power infrastructure, but it's also about hardening our infrastructure so that we can withstand heavier storms, so that flooding is not so much a problem, so that we move to distributed generation of power. Lots of pieces that we need to do.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Kamala Harris: Green New Deal sets agenda for dealing with climate change

The climate crisis is representing an existential threat to who we are as human beings. I support the Green New Deal because it puts timelines in effect. I think, for example, that we need to have -- really diversify public policy on water, with an equal emphasis on recycling, on conservation, on capture of water, storage of water, desalination. We need to invest in electric cars. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All of that is in the Green New Deal.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Marianne Williamson: Climate change biggest crisis of our time

On climate change: It is the greatest moral challenge of our age. We need carbon sequestration. We need the reforestation. We need to develop sustainable energy systems. We need new modes of electric transportation, et cetera. Enough with these incremental changes here and these incremental changes there. The climate is a crisis. We have 12 years to deal with it.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary Apr 14, 2019

  • The above quotations are from 2020 Presidential Primary CNN Town Halls.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Energy & Oil.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Bernie Sanders on Energy & Oil.
  • Click here for more quotes by Pete Buttigieg on Energy & Oil.
2020 Presidential contenders on Energy & Oil:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Apr 07, 2021