Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
10/16/2015
The place for fossil energy in the United States’ future energy mix was questioned during this week’s Democratic presidential debate, during which all but one candidate expressed a need to transition away from the carbon-heavy fuel source, though they differed on the preferred path to that end.
To no one’s surprise, all five candidates asserted that climate change is real and stressed a need to address the issue through a variety of measures. Former Secretary of State and top polling candidate Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who is third in the polls, noted they have laid out plans to move much of the nation’s energy sector to renewables. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), currently polling in second place, mentioned his efforts to institute a carbon tax. Former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a pro-coal Democrat who is fourth in the polls, stressed the need to find a global solution to combat climate change, a tactic also supported by Clinton and Sanders. Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, polling last, said little on the issue beyond mentioning his enemies in the coal lobby.
Clinton released her climate plan in July. “I’ve traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I’ve put forward specific plans about how we’re going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy,” she said during the debate.
While her plan contains little detail, it does lay out two measurable goals: the installation of more than half a billion solar panels throughout the nation by 2020 and an increase in renewable generation to 33 percent of total national energy generation by 2027.
O’Malley’s plan, which he says will be implemented through executive authority, is more ambitious, calling for the nation to transition entirely to renewable energy by 2050. “We did not land a man on the moon with an all-of-the-above strategy. It was an intentional engineering challenge, and we solved it as a nation. And our nation must solve this one,” O’Malley said during the debate. “We can get there as a nation, but it’s going to require presidential leadership.”
Webb shot back at his opponents on the issue of the national energy mix, suggesting that an all-of-the-above energy system is necessary to address climate change in a pragmatic way. “The question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change?” Webb said. “When I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power.”
Furthermore, Webb emphasized the importance of international coordination regarding climate change, noting high emissions out of China and India. Sanders echoed this point, saying the U.S. has “to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia” on climate change.
