The Atlantic: on Energy & Oil
Andrew Yang:
10 years too late on climate change, move to higher ground
Yang said, "Even if we were to curb our emissions dramatically, the Earth is going to get warmer. The last four years have been the four warmest years in history. We are too late. We are 10 years too late.""We need to do everything we can to start
moving the climate in the right direction," he continued, "but we also need to start moving our people to higher ground--and the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families."
Source: The Atlantic magazine on 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 1, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Decade-long track record on climate change
Jay Inslee thinks Americans [will pay attention] when it comes to climate change. And that's why he's going to run for president. "When you've been working on something for over a decade, and now seeing people awakening to that, it's just really
gratifying and heartening," the Washington governor recently told me, sitting in his private study on the top floor of the governor's mansion. When it comes to climate change, there now appears to be "an appetite for someone who has credibility and a
long track record and, most importantly, a vision statement. It's changed to show an opening in a Democratic primary, I believe."As the 2018 midterm campaigns came to an end, Inslee read through searing international and federal climate-change
assessments, took a trip to view the wildfire damage in California--and he shifted [in his decision to run for President]. Now "we're laying the groundwork that would make this a feasible thing in the relatively short term," Inslee told me.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Climate change threatens environment & national security
If there is a new Democratic president come 2021, he or she will get pulled in all sorts of policy directions. Inslee says he has one priority: global warming. It's not theoretical, or a cause just for tree huggers anymore. "Putting off dealing with it
for a year or two or kicking it to some new bipartisan commission won't work," he says. He plans to focus on the threat that climate change poses to the environment and national security--the mega-storms and fires causing millions
in damages, the weather changes that will cause mass migrations, the droughts that will devastate farmers in America and around the world.
Even more so, he wants to talk about the risk to American opportunity. "We have two existential threats right now: one is to our natural systems, and one is to our economic systems," he said.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Spur green R&D; restrict power plants and emissions
As he did in Washington State, [to deal with climate change] Inslee would propose a mix of government investments and incentives to spur other investment, restrictions on power plants and emissions, and programs to promote R&D and job growth.
An endless number of jobs can be created in the climate arena, Inslee says. It's the way to make a real dent in income inequality and have the Democratic Party bring tangible solutions to communities in rural America that have been left behind.
With his inaction, President Donald Trump--Inslee calls him "the commander in chief of delusion"--is engaged in a "disgusting selling-out of the country," a "crime"
against the aspirational optimism of America.He's put together an email list of 200,000 climate advocates, which could become a beachhead of support around the country [in his presidential run].
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Establish solar-cell; expand use of electric ferries
[Among Democrats running for President], Inslee is the only one who has actually run a government that has made climate-change policy central. He points to the towns in Washington that have become solar-cell farms, among other accomplishments.
There's also his plan to expand the use of electric ferries. "Without having a vision and having a sense of what could be, we would not be launching that effort right now," says the outgoing director of the state
commerce department. "As a country, we're certainly not going to be able to do it if we're hiding from facts from the world around us."Why climate change as a core issue?
This is like gay marriage, he figures: America is at a tipping point. Things are about to change. And voters will be looking for leaders who were already out front on the issue.
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Fighting climate change crucial, and profitable
Inslee will be the only climate-change candidate when he announces his bid. "It's less of a concern," Inslee says of his singular focus on global warming, "than being totally ignored in a presidential race." This isn't just about saving the planet,
but about how much money can be made in moving toward clean energy. "Whatever the situation is now, it's going to be worse two years from now on the peril side, and it's going to be better on the promise side through clean-energy jobs."
Source: The Atlantic, "Risky Bet," on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2019
Joe Manchin III:
2010 ad: Shot a hole in the cap and trade bill
West Virginia's incumbent senator, Joe Manchin, recently said he's not sure he'll even vote for Obama. West Virginia is not exactly a swing state--Obama lost it by 13 points in 2008--and Manchin's political brand is predicated on this type
of cheeky partisan heresy. In an ad for his 2010 campaign, he raised a rifle and shot a hole in a pile of paper labeled "cap and trade bill." (That was a special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd, so Manchin has to run again this year.)
Source: Molly Ball in The Atlantic on 2012 W.V. Senate debates
May 8, 2012
John Hickenlooper:
Pro-environment but there's room for fossil fuels
Hickenlooper has served as an arbiter between oil-and-gas interests and conservation advocates. In 2014 he created a task force with members of both sides to remove ballot initiatives that could have severely affected the industry.
He's pushed for stricter environmental standards that still leave the state welcoming to oil and gas. He brought together environmentalists and energy companies to make Colorado the first state to adopt rules to limit methane emissions from drilling.
Source: The Atlantic, "Antithesis" on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Sep 18, 2018
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
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