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Who is the Greenest GOP Candidate?

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By Margaret Hedderman

For all the hype and rhetoric surrounding the current GOP candidates, little has been said regarding their stances on the environment. Who supports clean energy? Who thinks global warming is “junk science?” If a Republican made it into office, what’s the story for the planet? Read all about Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty and tell us what you think!

Michele Bachmann at the New Hampshire GOP Debate.

Michele Bachmann

In less than 500 words on her campaign website, Bachmann describes her energy policy. However, it can be condensed into one word: drill. After mistakenly referring to ANWR as the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (officially, it’s the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), Bachmann claims she will open it to drilling. She also plans to recover those 86 billion barrels of oil in offshore reserves that President Obama, “overreacting to the BP oil spill,” has denied oil companies from accessing.

In April of 2009, Bachmann spoke to the House. She stated that CO2 is “a natural byproduct of nature… as a matter of fact Carbon Dioxide is portrayed as harmful, but there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows Carbon Dioxide is a harmful gas.” Bachmann will stop all cap-and-trade initiatives “in their tracks and end this ‘Job Killing Agency’s’ (EPA) threats against our rapidly growing domestic shale gas industry and the energy and manufacturing bonanza it is offering.”

GOP Candidate Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Romney’s stance on the environment and his energy policy are vague, to say the least. His official election page offers only a brief paragraph stating that energy security and independence are key to job creation. Here he proposes that we pursue the “exploration and development of conventional fossil fuels, [and] remove the regulatory hurdles that prevent the construction of nuclear power plants.”

Unlike many of his opponents, Romney does believe in global warming. “I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer… I believe that humans contribute to that.” Although he has supported clean energy in the past, he has blocked a movement to develop Cape Wind in Nantucket and favours drilling in ANWR. As the Governor of Massachusetts, Romney supported increased cap-and-trade regulations on coal plants. He was quoted as saying, “”I will not protect jobs that kill people. And that plant kills people.”

Rick Santorum surrounded by his family.

Rick Santorum

While a new study from Jianjun Yin of the University of Arizona shows that warming ocean temperatures will increase the rate of the polar icecaps melting, Rick Santorum recently told Glenn Beck, “there is no such thing as global warming”- being merely a result of “junk science” and “drill. Drill everywhere.” This greatly pleased Glenn Beck who nodded knowingly and in agreement with the camera.

Since 1997, Santorum has consistently acted against sustainable energy. In 2001, he voted Gale Norton into office as Secretary of the Interior (a former lobbyist for the metals industry). In 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005 he voted YES to drilling in ANWR and NO on reducing our oil usage by 40% by 2025. Santorum operates on the opposite end of the color spectrum to green. On June 6th, Santorum said this about President Obama’s energy policy: “[he] has put [up] a stop sign … against oil drilling, against any kind of exploration offshore or in Alaska, and that is depressing. We need to drill. We need to create energy jobs.”

Former Speaker of the House and GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich

While Gingrich claims he will support all forms of energy production from oil to wind, the six-step plan on his website does little to back that up. After disabling the EPA, Gingrich will reduce “frivolous lawsuits that that hold up energy production, ” remove the “bureaucracy and legal obstacles to responsible oil and natural gas development” and “end the ban on oil shale development in the American West.”

What is interesting about Gingrich is that he wrote a book in 2007 entitled A Contract With Earth. Here, he calls for environmentalists and businessmen to work together to find solutions and avoid the “ineffective liberal environmentalist” approach. Gingrich appears to be more involved and outspoken about the environment than his other candidates, which may or may not be a good thing, considering the fact that he wants to open ANWR to drilling and more offshore sites.

Jon Huntsman announcing his candidacy.

Jon Huntsman

As the only moderate in the GOP contender ring, Huntsman is, in many regards, pro-environment. While Governor of Utah, Huntsman worked with then-Governor Schwarzenegger to create reduction emission cap-and-trade policy for their states with the Western Climate Initiative. However, since becoming ambassador to China, Huntsman has said, “Cap-and-trade ideas aren’t working; it hasn’t worked, and our economy’s in a different place than five years ago… Much of this discussion happened before the bottom fell out of the economy, and until it comes back, this isn’t the moment.”

Whether or not he is on the Drill, Baby Drill Bandwagon isn’t clear, but in the past Huntsman has supported alternative energies. His campaign website offers no insight into his presidential environmental policies, but Huntsman, with maybe the exception of Tim Pawlenty, certainly has a much greener past than any of his opponents.

Tim Pawlenty speaking in 2008.

Tim Pawlenty

Like Huntsman, Pawlenty once supported cap-and-trade regulations, but has since changed his tune. In 2007, the Minnesota governor was ranked the 5th greenest Republican governor in the country, but Pawlenty now supports drilling in ANWR and doesn’t favour ethanol subsidies. He recently spoke about Obama’s energy policy on a Chicago radio show: “this is a president who has sat on his hands as it relates to drilling…You know, we’ve got a country that’s got some enormous energy assets that are not being exploited or leveraged to the benefit of our country and to our people.”

Just as a final note, I feel I should mention that the majority of the candidates rarely mention energy or the environment on their websites. I gathered the above information from various quotes and interviews from the candidates.

Who do you think is the greenest? Or… the least green?



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