“Whatever (Murray) advocates I pay a lot of attention to, because she knows how to get it through the Congress”, Clinton said after meeting with labor leaders on Thursday. The U.S. installed 6.2 gigawatts of solar PV in 2014, up 30 percent over 2013, according to GTM Research (which had its PV forecast cited by the Clinton team).
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Climate change is a “niche issue that alienates blue-collar voters, especially in the Midwest”, Fox’s Stirewalt noted.
“We can produce a transition with time from the fossil-fuel economy into a clear renewable power economy, predominantly”.
But she declined to weigh in on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would send Canadian crude oil to US refineries, a project criticised by environmentalists and many Democratic politicians, that is awaiting a final State Department review.
“Second, we’ll set a 10-year goal of generating enough renewable energy to power every single home in America”.
Greens want to cheer for Clinton, but Democratic rivals Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley are already trying to outflank her with even more ambitious climate plans, while the GOP attacks her from the right.
“We can not close our eyes to the challenges facing hard-working families in Coal Country, who kept our lights on and our factories running for more than a century”, she said. The California-based Steyer hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in May.
“The reality of climate change is unforgiving-no matter what the deniers say”, Clinton said at a campaign stop at the DART Central Station, a LEED Platinum-certified building, in Des Moines.
At the core of the tension is climate activists’ insistence that the next president go beyond defending Obama’s main approach to global warming – a series of EPA regulations that will throttle carbon emissions from major pollution sources such as power plants.
Depending on your position on climate change, Clinton’s motivation might be admirable – but the economics of her plan might not be on her side.
Clinton’s campaign described Monday’s speech as “just the beginning” of a broader energy plan, promising future proposals to cut U.S. oil use – without mention of natural gas consumption – and ensure “safe and responsible” drilling by putting some lands off-limits.
Trump, who in the face of Republican opprobrium this week flirted with the prospect of an independent campaign, has been close to Clinton in the past, having donated to her and to the Clinton Foundation. “Real leadership means taking stands on critical issues”, O’Malley wrote in an email to supporters Monday afternoon discussing Keystone.
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Clinton’s sharp focus on solar energy and other alternative energy sources is not unlike President Obama’s big push throughout his first term to spark expansion in the solar energy industry, largely with the use of Energy Department grants and loans to private producers of solar panels and batteries.
