The general election: Who will you support?
During the primary season, this column listed the views and positions of the Democrat and Republican presidential primary candidates on natural gas, climate change and energy. Now that the general election is a few weeks away, it无毛视频檚 appropriate to reexamine each party无毛视频檚 nominee position, including the Green and Libertarian parties. In addition to each candidate无毛视频檚 website, a good source for this information is found at ballotpedia.org.
Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton无毛视频檚 energy policy is focused on two national goals: installing more than 500 million solar panels across the country by the end of her first term and getting enough renewable energy to power every home in 10 years. She sees natural gas as a bridge from getting the country off coal and into renewable energy sources.
Regarding Clinton无毛视频檚 stance on fracking, she said, 无毛视频淵ou know, I don无毛视频檛 support it when any locality or any state is against it, number one. I don无毛视频檛 support it when the release of methane or contamination of water is present. I don无毛视频檛 support it 无毛视频� number three 无毛视频� unless we can require that anybody who fracks has to tell us exactly what chemicals they are using. So by the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place. And I think that无毛视频檚 the best approach, because right now, there are places where fracking is going on that are not sufficiently regulated. So first, we无毛视频檝e got to regulate everything that is currently underway, and we have to have a system in place that prevents further fracking unless conditions like the ones that I just mentioned are met.无毛视频�
In December 2014, Clinton said, 无毛视频淭he science of climate change is unforgiving, no matter what the deniers may say, sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting, storms, droughts and wildfires are wreaking havoc.无毛视频� Politico reported on August 11, 2016, that Clinton assembled an advisory team on climate change of more than 100 experts. Clinton无毛视频檚 energy advisor Trevor Houser said, 无毛视频淒emocrats believe that climate change is too important to wait for climate deniers in Congress to start listening to science. And while it无毛视频檚 always important to remain open to a conversation about how to address this issue with Congress, we need a plan that we can implement day one, because it无毛视频檚 too important to wait, and we need to focus on those things as well.无毛视频�
Republican nominee Donald Trump outlined his energy policies in a speech in Pennsylvania on September 22, 2016: 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 going to lift the restrictions on American energy and allow this wealth to pour into our communities including right here in the state of Pennsylvania. We will end the war on coal and on miners,无毛视频� said Trump to attendees of the 2016 Shale Insight Conference, a gathering of natural gas producers. He said, 无毛视频淏illions of dollars in private infrastructure investment have been lost to the Obama-Clinton restriction agenda. 无毛视频� We will streamline the permitting process for all energy infrastructure projects, including the billions of dollars in projects held up by President Obama 无毛视频� creating countless more jobs in the process.无毛视频� Trump further outlined that he would roll back Obama无毛视频檚 climate change plans, promote oil and gas drilling on federal lands, and promote the construction of oil and gas pipelines.
Trump无毛视频檚 campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said on September 27, 2016, that Trump believes 无毛视频済lobal warming is naturally occurring无毛视频� and humans are not the cause.
On fracking, Trump said, on July 29, 2016, in response to a reporter asking about a fracking ballot question in Colorado, 无毛视频淲ell, I无毛视频檓 in favor of fracking, but I think that voters should have a big say in it. I mean, there无毛视频檚 some areas, maybe, they don无毛视频檛 want to have fracking. And I think if the voters are voting for it, that无毛视频檚 up to them无毛视频� If a municipality or a state wants to ban fracking, I can understand that.无毛视频�
Trump wrote in his 2011 book, 无毛视频淭ime to Get Tough,无毛视频� that the Marcellus Shale was 无毛视频渙ne of the largest mother lodes of natural gas无毛视频� and should be used to buy 无毛视频渕ore time to innovate and develop newer, more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper forms of energy.无毛视频� In a 2011 interview on energy production, Trump expressed incredulity that the United States is not more aggressively using natural gas and drilling.
In a January 2014 interview on FOX News, Donald Trump claimed climate change was 无毛视频渁 hoax.无毛视频� Two years earlier, Trump tweeted, 无毛视频淭he concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.无毛视频�
Green candidate Jill Stein believes we need to get away from all fossil fuels before it is too late and that fracking 无毛视频渋s leading to a spreading cancer of polluted groundwater and fracked gas pipelines.无毛视频� In an interview on Fox Business on August 26, 2016, Stein said, 无毛视频淲hat the science actually says and the studies and the experts say that if we have the political will, we can convert. And it无毛视频檚 not just a matter of shutting down fossil fuel 无毛视频� it无毛视频檚 a matter of creating the good jobs for the economy of the future that无毛视频檚 healthy for us as people and healthy for the planet. 无毛视频� Fortunately, we save so much money by the health improvements from phasing out fossil fuels无毛视频搃t无毛视频檚 actually enough to pay for those jobs to ensure the green energy transition.无毛视频�
In a November 29, 2015, interview with The Harvard Crimson, Stein said she 无毛视频渉opes to replicate key aspects of the New Deal legislation,无毛视频� which she believes 无毛视频渨ould allow the U.S. to become fully dependent on renewable energy within 15 years.无毛视频� She said the plan 无毛视频渞evives the economy, creates well-paying living wage jobs that we desperately need at the same time that it greens the economy and the energy system and therefore turns the tide on climate change and makes wars for oil obsolete. It无毛视频檚 a win-win.无毛视频�
Stein said, 无毛视频淥bama无毛视频檚 proposals are a step in the right direction but way too little. We need an emergency national mobilization similar to what our country did after Pearl Harbor at the outset of WWII.无毛视频� Stein proposes transitioning 无毛视频渢o 100 percent clean energy for everything 无毛视频� not just electricity 无毛视频� by 2030 while creating 20 million jobs and avoiding hundreds of thousands of annual 无毛视频榚xcess deaths无毛视频� from air pollution.无毛视频�
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson supports the EPA, saying, 无毛视频済overnment I think has a fundamental responsibility to protect us against those that would do us harm, in this case pollution. And I support the EPA.无毛视频� His campaign website states: 无毛视频淛ohnson does not, however, believe the government should be engaging in social and economic engineering for the purpose of creating winners and losers in what should be a robust free market. Preventing a polluter from harming our water or air is one thing. Having politicians in Washington, D.C., acting on behalf of high powered lobbyists, determine the future of clean energy innovation is another. 无毛视频� In a healthy economy that allows the market to function unimpeded, consumers, innovators, and personal choices will do more to bring about environmental protection and restoration than will government regulations driven by special interests. Too often, when Washington, D.C. gets involved, the winners are those with the political clout to write the rules of the game, and the losers are the people and businesses actually trying to innovate. 无毛视频� Governors Johnson and Weld strongly believe that the federal government should prevent future harm by focusing on regulations that protect us from real harm, rather than needlessly costing American jobs and freedom in order to pursue a political agenda.无毛视频�
Regarding climate change, Johnson said in a CNBC interview on August 22, 2016, 无毛视频淚 do think that climate change is occurring, that it is man-caused. One of the proposals that I think is a very libertarian proposal, and I无毛视频檓 just open to this, is taxing carbon emission that may have the result of being self-regulating. 无毛视频� The market will take care of it. I mean, when you look at it from the standpoint of better results, and actually less money to achieve those results, that无毛视频檚 what is being professed by a carbon tax.无毛视频�
Johnson said in a December 2011 interview with NPR that although he believed climate change was human-induced, he did not support cap and trade regulations to lower carbon emissions. He said, 无毛视频淵ou know, I无毛视频檓 accepting that global warming is man-caused. That said, I am opposed to cap and trade. I think that free-market approach. Hey, we无毛视频檙e all demanding less carbon emission. I think we无毛视频檙e going to get it.无毛视频�
In November 2011, Johnson said he would 无毛视频渒eep an open mind无毛视频� on fracking.
(David Pearl is vice president of Infinity Resource Group, Inc., a professional mineral rights consulting firm, specializing in the leasing and sale of mineral rights in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Pearl is also president of a natural gas fuel dispensing patent holding company and director of a natural gas fuel island development company. Your questions are welcomed by calling 412-535-9200 or by emailing IRGOilGas@gmail.com.)