Climate crisis town hall tested Democratic candidates’ boldness and credibility
Views of Hurricane Dorian’s destruction across the Bahamas and its path toward the Carolinas punctuated the first U.S. presidential candidates’ televised forum dedicated to climate change, reminding viewers of the stakes as 10 leading Democratic candidates pitched their climate policy ideas Wednesday night.
CNN’s juxtaposition of its unprecedented political forum with coverage of the record-breaking storm seemed to signal a new era in the long struggle over the U.S. role in addressing global warming.
There was none of the debate over science that has dominated U.S. political discussions and strangled action in recent years. Instead, candidates focused on how they would navigate a transition to what all agreed should be 100 percent clean energy by mid-century. Most of the sparring was over what would they do to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, how far they would go to change American lifestyles, and how would they marshal the money and political support.
But a looming presence throughout the forum was the opponent that the Democratic winner will face a year from now. And the biggest question for the future of U.S. climate policy may be whether the political landscape has changed. Will President Donald Trump be forced to face questions on a crisis that is escalating on his watch? Or will the president and other opponents of climate action succeed in stalling the debate in the realm of doubt and denial? [Continue reading…]
Joseph R. Biden Jr. seemed momentarily caught off guard on Wednesday in a nationally televised climate change forum about whether a host of a fund-raising event for him had ties to the fossil fuel industry. Mr. Biden, who has pledged not to take money from oil and gas executives, was confronted by an audience member about a high-dollar fund-raiser on his schedule on Thursday in New York with an executive named Andrew Goldman.
Mr. Biden denied Mr. Goldman was a fossil fuel executive. The pledge he signed binds him not to take contributions of more than $200 from “S.E.C.-named executives of fossil fuel companies.” The former vice president told the CNN host Anderson Cooper that Mr. Goldman was not listed as an executive in fossil fuel company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “That’s what we look at,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Cooper, who seemed apprised in advance of the issue raised by the audience member, pressed Mr. Biden, saying Mr. Goldman “has a company called Western LNG” that announced it was building an offshore terminal in western Canada to export natural gas. Earlier in the day, the news site The Intercept had reported on Mr. Goldman’s background.
“Well, I didn’t realize he does that,” Mr. Biden replied. “I’m going to look at what you just told me and find out if that’s accurate.” [Continue reading…]