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Marco Rubio denied that human activity was causing “dramatic changes to our climate.” “Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a GOP star and possible 2016 presidential contender, does not believe human activity is causing climate change, he said Sunday. ‘I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,’ Rubio said on ABC’s ‘This Week.’ ‘I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy,’ he added.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/11/14]
Marco Rubio said that he doesn’t believe human activities could affect climate change. “Rubio said he doesn’t agree that actions humans take today could affect how the climate is changing. ‘Our climate is always changing. […] And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that’s directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activities.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/11/14]
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Hillary Clinton called climate change the “most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and world.” “Climate change is the ‘most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and world,’ Clinton said at the National Clean Energy Summit 7.0 in Nevada. ‘The data is unforgiving no matter what the deniers try to assert.’” [The Hill, 9/4/14]
Hillary Clinton: “Climate change is a national security problem, not just an environmental problem.” “On climate change: ‘Climate change is a national security problem, not just an environmental problem.’” [Politico, 4/9/14]
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Marco Rubio voted against the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, legislation that would eliminate tax subsidies for the five largest oil companies and redirect those savings into deficit reduction. “Dubbed the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, the bill would eliminate tax subsidies for just the five largest oil companies and direct those savings to pay down the deficit. Total deficit reduction: $21 billion over 10 years.” [CNN, 5/12/11; Senate roll call vote 72, 5/17/11; S. 940, 5/10/11]
Marco Rubio voted against the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act, legislation that would end tax breaks totaling $24 billion for the five largest oil companies. “Voting 51-47, the Senate on March 29 failed to reach 60 votes for ending GOP blockage of a bill (S 2204) to end several tax breaks worth $24 billion over ten years for the five largest oil companies: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell. More than half of the savings would be allocated to deficit reduction, with the remaining $11 billion used for tax credits to promote natural gas and propane as vehicle fuels, make U.S. homes more energy-efficient and spur the production of renewable and alternative fuels to reduce U.S. consumption of fossil fuels. A yes vote was to advance the bill.” [Evansville Courier and Press, 4/1/12; Senate roll call vote 63, 3/29/12; S. 2204, 3/19/12]
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Hillary Clinton: “Generous subsidies for fossil fuels are still too easy to come by.” “Now, today I don’t need to tell you that tax incentives for alternative energy investments are unpredictable at best, while generous subsidies for fossil fuels are still too easy to come by. In fact, the world spends more than $500 billion subsidizing fossil fuels every year, bloating budgets, and creating incentives against innovation and progress.” [Hillary Clinton remarks at the National Clean Energy Summit, 9/4/14]
Hillary Clinton proposed legislation to strip billions of federal dollars in subsidies from oil companies. “And so what I am proposing is the Strategic Energy Fund that would be funded with 50 billion dollars. Ten billion dollars would come from the oil companies pay royalties on drilling on public land. They have escaped from paying their fair share. Public lands are just that and they need to be paying more. 20 billion would come from removing the tax subsidies that have been increased under the Bush administration, remove the tax subsidies from the oil companies, they don’t need it they’ve been making more money than anyone has ever made in the history of the world and that 20 billion will go into these strategic energy fund.” [Senator Clinton speech on the Green Building Fund, 7/24/07; S.2993, 5/23/06; S.701, 2/28/07]
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Marco Rubio voted against tax incentives for biodiesel. “Legislation that would have extended the US biodiesel tax incentive through the end of 2012 was voted down by the US Senate on Tuesday. ‘This is another missed opportunity for Congress to do something to boost the economy,’ said Anne Steckel, the National Biodiesel Board’s vice president of federal affairs. ‘We’re talking about thousands of jobs across the country that are affected by this, and the very real possibility that biodiesel plants will go out of business.’” [ICIS News, 3/13/12; Senate roll call vote 39, 3/13/12; S. Amdt. 1812, 3/13/12]
Marco Rubio voted against legislation to fund the promotion of natural gas as fuel for cars and trucks. “The Senate also defeated 51-47 a proposal to provide billions of dollars in tax incentives to promote natural gas as a fuel for cars and trucks through supports for refueling infrastructure, the manufacture of natural gas-powered vehicles and consumer purchases. The plan, which oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has advocated for years to promote natural gas as a cleaner-burning domestic fuel source, has attracted criticism from fiscally conservative interest groups for being what they consider an expensive government intervention in the energy markets.” [CQ Quarterly Today, 3/13/12; Senate roll call vote 41, 3/13/12; S. Amdt. 1782, 3/13/12]
Marco Rubio voted against legislation that would have extended the wind power tax credit. “Thursday’s vote was on legislation from Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. It called for shutting off $25 billion in tax credits for major oil companies over the next decade. Included in the bill was a list of credit extensions for alternative energy industries, including the wind power tax credit, which was first created in 1992.” [Pueblo Chieftain, 3/30/12; Senate roll call vote 63, 3/29/12; S. 2204, 3/19/12]
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Hillary Clinton: “We’ve got to do more to subsidize renewable energy.” During a speech at the University of Miami, Sec. Clinton said, “And third, we’ve got to do more to subsidize renewable energy and to create the incentives for smart people like all of you to come up with ways of doing that. We subsidized the oil and gas industry for decades. Maybe that was the right thing to do 50 years ago. Now, we need to subsidize clean energy, renewable sources of energy, and be part of the international effort to do that.” [Hillary Clinton remarks at the University of Miami, 2/26/14]
Hillary Clinton repeatedly introduced Senate legislation to prioritize investment in alternative energy. “I have introduced legislation to create a strategic energy fund, to commit our Nation wholly to a new energy future, to invest in alternatives and efficiency, to create jobs, to strengthen our economy, and to free our hands fully to protect our Nation in the world. I don’t want to see one more year go by where we are not doing what it takes to prevent us from being blackmailed and extorted by oil regimes that have us literally over a barrel. The strategic energy fund will invest in renewable energy, such as wind and solar, transform America’s vehicles by expanding consumer tax credits, and making sure we have more hybrids and other advanced clean diesel automobiles and trucks.” [Senator Clinton remarks, 6/28/06; S.2993, 5/23/06; S.701, 2/28/07]
Hillary Clinton supported the extension of the Wind Energy Production Tax Credit. “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today welcomed the Senate’s extension of the federal wind production tax credit. The extension, which Senator Clinton supported, was approved by the Senate last Thursday and will provide a boost to Flat Rock’s wind power project on Tug Hill in Lewis County. The extension has already been approved by the House of Representatives and now awaits the President’s signature. Senator Clinton also said today that she would continue to work to provide a longer extension of the credit. […] The Wind Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) was approved as part of a major tax package (H.R. 1308).” [Senator Clinton press release, 9/28/04]
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| Marco Rubio supported phasing out the Renewable Fuel Standard. “How the likely White House contenders navigate the issue will signal how much Republican politics are now driven by the party’s conservative base, which balks at government interference in the marketplace. Two GOP contenders who want to phase out the renewable-fuel standard, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, are skipping the event.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/5/15] |
Hillary Clinton supported continuing and improving the Renewable Fuel Standard. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a successful history of partnering with farmers, rural small businesses, and rural co-ops in deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. These programs should be expanded. The United States should also continue supporting — and improving — the Renewable Fuel Standard and other federal incentives that have been a success for Iowa and much of rural America. The Renewable Fuel Standard can continue to be a powerful tool to spur the development of advanced biofuels and expand the overall contribution that renewable fuels make to our national fuel supply.” [Hillary Clinton op-ed, The Gazette, 5/28/15] |
| Marco Rubio supported the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. “Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison will continue to chair the Nevada presidential campaign of Republican Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, despite the fact that Rubio has said he supports the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which Hutchison opposes.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5/11/15] |
Hillary Clinton said that storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain was “off the table.” Jon Ralston: “You’re not keeping it completely off the table? You’ll keep it in mind if new information comes to light?” Hillary Clinton: “Well, it’s off the table now based on what I know. I think science is always changing. But based on what I know, where it is, the geology of where it is, it’s off the table.” [KNPB’s Ralston Live, 6/18/15] |
| Marco Rubio said the Keystone XL pipeline was a key part of his economic agenda. “Earlier this year, Rubio called the Keystone XL pipeline a key part of his economic agenda. ‘The interstate highway system of the last century helped foster an explosion of economic opportunity,’ he said. ‘What we need now is an interstate energy pipeline because it could have a similar impact in this century.’” [Washington Post, 4/25/14] |
Hillary Clinton opposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. “I am opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. We shouldn’t be building a pipeline dedicated to moving North America’s dirtiest fuel through our communities — we should be focused on what it will take to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. For too long, the Keystone XL pipeline has been a distraction from the real challenges facing our energy sector — and the job-creating investments that we should be making to meet them. Building a clean, secure, and affordable North American energy future is bigger than Keystone XL or any other single project. That’s what I will focus on as president.” [Hillary Clinton, Medium, 9/23/15] |
