Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who is falling further behind Biden in the delegate count, said that he was calling to end "fracking as soon as we possibly can," adding that he was "talking about telling the fossil fuel industry that they are going to stop destroying this planet-no ifs, buts, and maybes about it." Shockingly, Biden said, "So am I. In that vein, Biden has resisted calling for a ban on fracking, a controversial method of natural gas extraction, but he briefly seemed to pivot on that at Sunday's debate. In reality though, the development of natural gas infrastructure hasn't led to more renewable energy-it's just made natural gas a bigger share of the U.S.'s energy use. That approach is reminiscent of the Obama administration's "All-of-the-Above" energy policy, which promoted natural gas as a "bridge fuel" between more carbon-intensive energy sources like coal and carbon-neutral ones like solar and wind. Zichal told Reuters last May that Biden's climate change plan would represent "a middle ground" approach to the crisis. Between working for Obama and now Biden, Zichal served on the board of natural gas exporting company Cheniere Energy. And Heather Zichal, an informal adviser to the Biden campaign, helped write some domestic climate policy under the Obama administration, and she also headed an interagency group established via executive order to encourage "unconventional" oil and gas development-work that eventually freed up Shell to drill in the Arctic. co-chair for the Biden campaign representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana has the most pro-fossil fuel industry voting record of any Democrat in Congress, according to Sludge. His presidential campaign has an equally murky track record when it comes to trying to balance fossil fuel interests and climate action. At a late February campaign stop in South Carolina, he said, "I'm the guy that came back after meeting with Deng Xiaoping and making the case that I believe China would join if we put pressure on them. Which, of course, neither Reagan nor Bush ultimately did."Īs far as the Paris Agreements, Biden has often touted his effort to help make the non-binding global deal a reality. In PolitiFact's write-up of the debate, the fact-checking website denied ever calling the plan "a game changer." Reed College history professor Josh Howe told PolitiFact that while it may have been the first Senate bill to address climate change, it was still meager, saying, "It was a plan to make a plan. Take the game changing Global Climate Protection Act, which Biden introduced as a senator representing Delaware in the 80s. "I would immediately rejoin the Paris climate accord, which I helped put together," Biden said on Sunday.īut history tells a different story. He referenced being one of the first senators to introduce a climate change bill back in 1986, adding, twice, "PolitiFact said it was a game changer." He also brought up the biggest climate policy accomplishment of the Obama administration, the Paris Climate Agreement, which Donald Trump has bailed on. At the latest Democratic debate on Sunday, Joe Biden wanted to make it clear that, when it comes to climate change, he's got the record that makes him the better candidate.
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