Interviews during 2018-2020: on Energy & Oil
Tom Steyer:
Departed from Farallon in part due to fossil fuel holdings
More troublesome for Steyer's public image is [his investment] fund's history of investing in fossil fuel projects, including a giant coal mine in Australia that generates vast quantities of carbon emissions. Steyer's critics have long seen his
past personal stake in coal mining as hypocritical. Steyer said he left Farallon in part because of its holdings in fossil fuels. "I wish I'd made the move away from fossil fuels sooner," he said.
Source: Los Angeles Times on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 14, 2019
Tom Steyer:
When I realized the threat of fossil fuels, I divested
Billionaire activist and 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer on Sunday defended his past investments in fossil fuels. Steyer was asked on ABC's "This Week" about the investments his hedge fund had made in fossil fuels, though he has more recently
spent millions of dollars to fight climate change. "In our business, we invested in every part of the economy, including fossil fuels," he said. "When I realized what a threat this was, I changed. I divested from all that stuff."
Source: The Hill magazine on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 14, 2019
Tom Steyer:
AdWatch: I left my business to combat climate change
[The Steyer campaign's first] pair of ads are backed up by $1.4 million dollars in spending. They will run nationally on CNN and MSNBC and locally in the four early states--Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada--for two weeks, from
July 10 to July 23."I left my business to combat climate change, fix our democracy, and hold President Trump accountable,"
Steyer said in one of his new ads. "Last year, we ran the largest youth voter registration in history, helping double turnout and win back the House."
The $1.4 million buy represents a small chunk of what
Steyer has committed to spending on his presidential bid. A Steyer spokesperson said that the billionaire former hedge fund manager will spend "at least $100 million" on the race.
Source: Politico.com AdWatch: 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 10, 2019
Joe Sestak:
Rejoin Paris Accord, ban offshore drilling
As president, Sestak will rejoin the Paris Accord, stop subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, fine carbon polluters with proceeds going to research renewable energy sources and strategies, ban offshore drilling, and give the
EPA "full authority to regulate substances (like HFCs) that contribute to global warming."
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 9, 2019
Tom Steyer:
Donated $41m for sustainable energy center
In 2008, Steyer and his wife gave $41 million to establish the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford University,
a program which specializes on the development of affordable renewable energy technologies and promotion of public policies to that end.
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 9, 2019
Wayne Messam:
Criticized Trump for quitting Paris Climate Accord
Messam signed a letter that criticized
President Trump for his plan to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.
Source: Axios.com on 2020 Democratic primary
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
Eric Swalwell:
Support for Green New Deal and Paris climate accord
Swalwell has voiced support for the Green New Deal, the progressive climate action bill that
House Democrats introduced in February. He has also expressed strong disapproval of President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.
Source: PBS News Hour on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 10, 2019
Wayne Messam:
Ran pro-climate firm, worked on "greenest school" in SE
"After my NFL career was cut short, my wife and I started a construction management company where we are a climate conscious company and we
helped build the greenest school in the southeastern United States reaching LEED Platinum."
Source: WBUR FM (Boston) on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 9, 2019
Wayne Messam:
Address climate change to create jobs & keep us competitive
"This administration's own report stated that if we don't take immediate action on climate change, in 10 years we could have irreversible damage to the air we breathe and the water that we drink. Yet this administration is not even following its own
report. America needs to be a leader in terms of being good stewards to our environment. It'll put Americans to work. It will improve the quality of life for Americans and make our communities safer and keep us more competitive as a nation."
Source: WBUR FM (Boston) on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 9, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Timetable on climate set by reality, not by Congress
I'm thinking about what the world's going to look like in 2054 when I get to the current age of the current president. And if we don't act aggressively and immediately on climate, it's not going to be a pretty picture.
If we can't do carbon free, then we'll do net carbon free, which means that we're taking out as much as we're putting in. The bottom line is, scientifically, the right year to do that was yesterday. We have got to do this.
This timetable isn't being set in Congress. It's being set by reality. It's being set by science. And it's going to hit. Those deadlines are going to hit in our climate with or without us.
What the green new deal gets right is it recognizes there's also a lot of economic opportunity in this. Retrofitting building means a huge amount of jobs for the building trades in this country.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 19, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Keep planet from warming one-half degree Celsius
He would also make climate change a top priority. "Keeping the planet from warming one-half degree Celsius, for me, is the most important for humanity," he says. He supports Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New
Deal in spirit, if not every letter. "The goal of converting to 100 percent renewable energy within a decade, I love," he says. "It's ambitious. It captures your imagination."
Source: Joe Hagan in Vanity Fair on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 13, 2019
Jay Inslee:
No "silver bullet" for climate: "silver buckshot" instead
The Washington governor has been focused laser-like on the issue of climate change. "We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change," he said, "but we are the last generation that can do something about it." He noted that a recent
Iowa poll showed that the environment was the top issue for Democratic voters, tied with healthcare. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal helping to push the topic to centre stage, Mr Inslee could be in position to capitalise on the attention.
His big idea: Clearly environmental action is the central thrust of Mr Inslee's campaign, although he says he has no one preferred policy "silver bullet", but rather wants a multifaceted "silver buckshot" approach.
His biggest challenge:
If he succeeds in raising his visibility by pushing the environmental issue, his biggest challenge will be using that attention to sell Democratic voters on the rest of his progressive record in Washington.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
John Hickenlooper:
Drank a glass of fracking fluid to show it was harmless
Mr Hickenlooper's focus on bipartisan co-operation may have won him political success in Colorado, but it also made him some fierce critics.Some environmentalists, in particular, weren't all that thrilled that the former oil industry scientist
sat down with energy industry executives for friendly negotiations. In one particularly memorable instance, the governor drank a glass of fracking fluid to prove that it didn't harm humans.
Mr Hickenlooper explained that he was trying to gain their trust--and that the talks led to real regulation of methane emissions. "They're mad that I did stuff," he said. "We actually did stuff. So sue me." They won't sue him, but they might not
vote for him, either.
Reception at the SXSW conference: Mr Hickenlooper is an affable man, and that came across in his appearance. They have a saying about where nice guys finish, though.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
Jay Inslee:
We are last generation that can do something about climate
Campaign announcement: "I'm running for president because I'm the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation's number one priority," Inslee declares in a video shared on social media. "We're the first generation to feel the
sting of climate change, and we're the last that can do something about it," he says in the video. "This crisis isn't just a chart or graph anymore. The impacts are being felt everywhere."
Source: Common Dreams e-zine on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 1, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Fighting climate change must be top goal of next president
Ultimately, I believe there is one central, defining, existential-with-a-capital-E threat to the future of the nation: climate change. It is clear that it will only be defeated if the United States shows leadership. And that will only happen if the
US president makes it a clear priority--the number one, foremost, paramount goal of the next administration. And I believe I'm uniquely positioned, by willingness and history and vision, to be able to do that.[When Obama won in 2008], the
Democratic team said, "We're going to do health care first." And so climate didn't get done. Now, could it have gotten done if it was put first? There are no guarantees. But once health care went first, there wasn't enough juice to get climate through.
We simply cannot have that experience again. So [climate change] can't be on a laundry list. It can't be something that candidates check the box on. It has to be a full-blooded effort to mobilize the United States in all capacities.
Source: David Roberts, Vox.com, on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 1, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Supported renewable portfolio; supports Green New Deal
I was very involved in passing the renewable portfolio standard [in 2006]. We went from zero to a billion-dollar wind industry in the last several years. We have moved the needle on the electrification of our transportation system. We've [helped with]
electric cars, because of the work we've been doing with incentives & building the electrical charging station grid on the interstate. We have created a clean energy research facility that's doing great work. We built a clean energy development program.
So I would say we have had substantial progress here, and I have been involved in virtually all of that in some way.I don't get to vote on it, but I am totally in sync and believe that it is exactly what I have said for decades. I think these
aspirational goals are appropriate to the time and the scale. I love the fact that it is embracing economic justice issues as well. I think we have come to understand more about how marginalized communities have been the victims of climate change.
Source: David Roberts, Vox.com, on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 1, 2019
Mike Bloomberg:
$218M effort led to closure of 282 coal-fired power plants
The network of Bloomberg Philanthropies recipients is vast, and it includes mayors throughout the country as well as grassroots climate-change, gun-control and education advocates.For instance, Bloomberg has contributed
$218 million for clean-energy efforts that, among other results, have led to the closure of 282 coal-fired power plants. But he does not oppose, at least in the short term, other fossil fuel use--and that's not good enough for climate change activists
Source: Politico.com on 2020 Democratic primary hopefuls
Feb 19, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Green New Deal is aspirational; don't over-promise
Sen. Amy Klobuchar placed herself firmly in the center lane of the Democratic primary, calling popular progressive policy platforms "aspirational," and declining to fully commit to them. The Minnesota Democrat called the Green New Deal "aspirational" --
pitching herself as pragmatic Midwesterner who won't over-promise liberal policies to primary voters.On climate change, Klobuchar said she believes that "we can get close" to the Green New Deal, but that she doesn't "think we're going to get rid of
entire industries in the U.S."
"We need to get this debate going, and this is put out there as an aspiration in that something we need to move toward," she said. "Do I think we can cross every 'T' and dot every 'I' in 10 years? Actually,
I think that would be very difficult to do."
She also looked ahead to the potential legislation, acknowledging that "there are going to be compromises" and "it's not going to look exactly like that," she said.
Source: Politico.com on 2020 Democratic primary hopefuls
Feb 18, 2019
Julian Castro:
Green Jobs Leadership Council: more solar; less coal
Castro created a Green Jobs Leadership Council and voted for an incentive package to bring solar panel maker Nexolon America to the city. CPS Energy (San Antonio's publicly owned energy utility) invested $50 million in alternative energy research
and signed a deal for the world's largest solar installation, approved energy efficiency upgrades to three landmarks, lured green tech companies to the city, inked a deal to build five solar plants, and pledged to close one of its coal plants by 2018.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
Julian Castro:
Supported both fossil fuel and green energy
San Antonio relied on a drilling boom in the Eagle Ford Shale, an oil and natural gas basin. It contributed to the city's poor air quality. This was Castro's "new energy economy": continued investment in and promotion of oil, natural gas,
and "clean coal," partnered with a movement toward alternative energy for electricity production. It was Obama's "all of the above" energy policy, but at the municipal level.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Supports Paris climate accord and Green New Deal
Buttigieg considers climate change a national security threat and a problem that will impact younger Americans and future generations. He supports every U.S. house becoming "net zero" consumer of energy, and is in favor of the government subsidizing
solar panels. Buttigieg was one of 407 U.S. mayors who signed a pact to adhere to the Paris climate accord after President Donald Trump pulled out of the international agreement 2017. He supports the "Green New Deal."
Source: PBS Newshour on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 15, 2019
Kamala Harris:
Climate change important, but not only issue
"On the issue of climate change: Every parent wants to know that their child can drink clean water and breathe clean air. And that same parent wants to know that they're able to bring home enough money with one job to pay their bills and pay their rent
and put food on the table, instead of having to work two or three jobs," she said. "Every person wants to know that there will be a criminal-justice system that is fair to all people, regardless of their race.."
Source: The Atlantic, "Pick a Lane," on 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 22, 2019
Tom Steyer:
2015: Next president must have plan for climate change
The real test for our next president will be to make sure America avoids the worst consequences of climate change and to put us on a path to achieving more than 50% clean energy by 2030. Clean energy is the ultimate growth strategy for our economy--one
that would add millions more good-paying jobs in the United States. Our next president will be responsible for setting our economic agenda and protecting American families, and that must include a real plan for addressing climate change.
Source: Medium.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Oct 28, 2015
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021