In every election the presidential candidates are forced to make a bold statement, one way or the other, on the environment. And since this blog is focused on sustainability their positions are an important topic. Here are three of them – climate change, renewable energy, and the EPA – from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
I apologize for the strong Democratic Party bias in this piece, but the Republican Party has yet to embrace sustainability. There are glimpses of it from Mitt Romney, but he is backing away from many of those. And honestly, we need the Republican Party to adopt sustainable ideas to make real progress in this country.
Climate Change
Barack Obama
- Supports international efforts to forge a climate change agreement.
- Enacted regulations to double the fuel efficiency of vehicles by 2025.
- Directed the federal government to reduce emissions from its buildings and vehicles by 28 percent by 2020.
Mitt Romney
- Wary of international climate negotiations.
- Opposes Obama’s new fuel efficiency standards as extreme.
- Believes climate change is happening but not due to human efforts.
Renewable Energy
Barack Obama
- Invested billions in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
- Set ambitious clean energy goals, vowing that 80 percent will come from renewable sources by 2035.
- Supported legislation, now set to expire, that extends production tax credits to the wind industry.
Mitt Romney
- Opposes extending the tax credit for the wind industry and has vowed to end federal subsidies for renewable energy projects.
- Supports nuclear, coal, oil, and gas in equal amounts to solar and wind.
- As governor of Massachusetts, supported renewable energy authorizing the investment of $24 million.
EPA
Barack Obama
- Empowered the EPA to draft stricter CO2 emissions standards for power plants.
- Supports proposed EPA regulations limiting emissions of mercury and other toxics from power plants.
- Supports continued federal regulation of oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Mitt Romney
- Opposes EPA regulating carbon dioxide emissions.
- Says the states, not the federal government, should exercise control over oil and gas drilling on onshore federal lands.
- Has called for fewer regulations on the nuclear power industry to help revive it.
