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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06
, 2008 |
CONTACT:
David Willett
202.491.6919
Kurt Ehrenberg
603.498.2275
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Sierra Club Celebrates Victory in Primary
The Clean Energy Future Has Begun in NH
Concord, NH: With so many of the leading presidential candidates advocating clean energy solutions to meet the challenge of global warming, and all of the candidates at least discussing the issue, the Sierra Club today declared that America’s Clean Energy Future has already begun in New Hampshire. Building off the Iowa momentum Sierra Club activities are in full swing in New Hampshire as Primary Day Approaches.
"The Clean Energy Future has begun in New Hampshire. We might not agree with all of the candidates’ specific views on the issue, but we are ecstatic that so many of them are talking about the need to solve global warming and our energy problems,” said Kurt Ehrenberg of NH Sierra Club. “The issue is clearly rising to the top and the debate has shifted from whether we’re going to solve global warming to how we’re going to solve it. We expect this to be a defining issue in the general election.”
Armed with compact fluorescent lightbulbs and clean energy checklists, Sierra Club volunteers have attended over 130 candidate events and will be at over 40 polling places on Primary Day to spread the word about the need for a clean energy future—a listing of locations below--Sierra Club's National Political Director Cathy Duvall will also be available in NH on Monday and Tuesday.
A sampling of some candidates’ remarks on energy and global warming made in NH in the past few days:
John Edwards: "Our generation must be the one that says, 'we must halt global warming,'" said Edwards. "If we don't act now, it will be too late. Our generation must be the one that says 'yes' to alternative, renewable fuels and ends forever our dependence on foreign oil. Our generation must be the one that accepts responsibility for conserving natural resources and demands the tools to do it. And our generation must be the one that builds the New Energy Economy. It won't be easy, but it is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war."
Hillary Clinton: (100 Club Speech) “We will deal with global warming and we will create millions of new good jobs that cannot be outsourced. If we do this, it will be the equivalent of the Apollo moon shot. This is up to this generation but you need a president who will lead and will clear away the special interest from the oil-companies to the oil-producing countries. And once again provide the kind of enthusiastic embrace of a problem America is equipped to solve.”
Barack Obama: (From the ABC/Facebook debate) “…I think a cap-and-trade system [for reducing global warming pollution] makes more sense. That's why I proposed it: because you can be very specific in terms of how we're going to reduce the greenhouse gases by a particular level. Now, what you have to do is you have to combine it with a 100 percent auction. In other words, every little bit of pollution that is sent up into the atmosphere, that polluter is getting charged for it. Not only does that ensure that they don't game the system, but you're also generating billions of dollars that can be invested in solar and wind and biodiesel.
Bill Richardson: (ABC/Facebook Debate) What you want is a mandate on polluters, on coal companies, on those that pollute, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain target. Under my plan: 30 percent by the year 2020; 80 percent by the year 2040. It takes international leadership. The better way to do it is through a cap-and-trade system which is a mandate…but it's also going to take presidential leadership. It's going to take all of us here, every American, you know, to think more efficiently about how we transport ourself, what vehicles we purchase, appliances in our homes. It's going to take a transportation policy that doesn't just build more highways. We have to have commuter rail, light rail, open spaces. We've got to have land-use policies where we improve people's quality of life.
Rudy Giuliani: “We can have a country that is energy independent. it can be done…the president has to push all these things. whether it's biofuels or hybrid vehicles or nuclear power or clean coal or liquid natural gas and natural gas or wind solar, hydropower, all of these things have to be pushed as well as domestic oil and more refineries. so getting these things done is enormously important to making ourselves -- let's call it energy diversified.
Mike Huckabee: We have to explore, we have to conserve, and we have to pursue all avenues of alternative energy: nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, clean coal, biodiesel, and biomass. Some will come from our farms and some will come from our laboratories. Dwindling supplies and increasing demand from newly-industrialized countries of fossil fuels are driving up prices. These price increases will facilitate innovation and the opportunity for independence. We will remove red tape that slows innovation. We will set aside a federal research and development budget that will be matched by the private sector to seek the best new products in alternative fuels. Our free market will sort out what makes the most sense economically and will reward consumer preferences.
John McCain: (ABC/Facebook Debate) "I think it's a nexus of two critical issues facing this country: alternate energy, nuclear power, wind, solar, tide, hybrids. We have to unleash the technology of America and we must reduce and eventually eliminate this dependency on foreign oil, because it has become a national security issue, and we have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because I believe there's enough evidence that we are going to damage this planet beyond repair unless we begin to address that issue."
Mitt Romney: (ABC/Facebook Debate) “We can't get energy-independent in ten years. but we can get it on track in all the ways described… it will require a far more substantial investment by our nation. Right now, we spend about $4 billion on new sources of energy. We need to increase that dramatically, and american corporations, last year, they spent more money defending tort lawsuits than on research and development. We're upside down. The future of a great nation like ours depends on leading the world in technology and innovation, and energy in particular. This has to be our highest domestic economic priority, get ourselves out of tract to become energy-secure and energy-independent. We can do that. It's within our grasp but it's going to take reality, rather than the political rhetoric we've seen over the last 25 years.”
Sierra Club will have volunteers at over 40 polling places across the state. Below is a list of key locations for visuals/interviews with Sierra Club volunteers:
*Amherst (6am-8pm)
Souhegan H.S., 412 Boston Post Rd.
*Bedford (7am-7pm)
Bedford H.S./Middle School, 47 Nashua Rd.
*Hanover (7am-7pm)
Richmond Middle School, 63 Lyme Rd.
*Keene (8am-7pm)
Ward 2, Keene Parks & Recreation 312 Washington St.
*Manchester (6am-7pm)
Ward 1, Brookside Congregational Church, 2013 Elm St.
*Manchester (6am-7pm)
Ward 4, McDonough School, 550 Lowell Street
*Milford (6am-8pm)
Middle School, 33 Osgood Rd.
*Nashua (6am-8pm)
Ward 3, Amherst Street School, 71 Amherst St.
*Portsmouth (8am-7pm)
Ward 5, Little Harbor School, 50 Clough Dr.
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