The Republican presidential debate Sept. 16 lasted roughly three hours, but no more than five minutes were spent discussing climate change.
The event, which pit 11 candidates against one another in a marathon cage match, mostly consisted of debates over foreign policy, immigration, the economy, abortion and drugs.
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When attention did turn to the environment, only two candidates made substantial contributions to the debate: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
What did they say?
The climate talk started when debate moderator and CNN anchor Jake Tapper confronted Rubio about being a climate change denier. Rubio rebutted saying he’s a skeptic, but not of the science — he doesn’t trust in the policies put forth by Democratic presidential candidates and policymakers.
The senator went onto say “America is not a planet.” He claimed the legislation put forth by Democrats “won’t do a thing to lower the rise of the sea, to cure the drought in California.” (During the intros, he joked about bringing his own bottle because of the drought. The joke was also a nod at his 2013 rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, when he reached for an off-camera refreshment.)
Christie discussed climate change by drawing attention to how he addressed the issue as governor of New Jersey. He stated his support of state measures over nation-wide ones and said, “We don’t need this massive government intervention [to fight climate change.]” He also called for nuclear energy to be put back on the discussion table.
What did Christie do for the environment in New Jersey?
The governor has a mixed track record when it comes to environmental and energy policies.
In 2010, Christie signed the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act, which requires a portion of the electricity sold in New Jersey to come from offshore wind turbines. However, the project could potentially be dead in the waters. In 2013, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities — the entity in charge of overseeing the project — struggled to settle on a funding plan for the project. Two years later, the board is stalling while Rhode Island has already begun constructing offshore turbines of its own.
“In the near term, the New Jersey situation doesn’t look great; there’s been a pushback from the original enthusiasm,” Walt Musial, head of offshore wind research at the national Renewable Energy Laboratory, told NorthJersey.com.
In 2011, Christie pulled New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which set goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in northeastern states. According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Christie called the entire project a “failure” and said it would not effectively reduce emissions. The other member states in the initiative included: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Contributed by Katie Pohlman
