CORE VALUES
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CLIMATE CHANGE
• The Inflation Reduction Act pumped $375 billion into the fight against climate change,
• Harris supports the Green New Deal
• Supports Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides hundreds of billions of dollars in tax subsidies and grants for low-carbon and renewable energy
• We will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement
• Create apprenticeships for training, and direct-hire programs that address climate change
• Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and no later than 2050
• Reestablish strong standards for clean cars
• Incentivize production of low-carbon building and construction materials
• Pursue high-productivity, lower-emission, and regenerative agricultural practices
FRACKING
• Harris will no longer try to stop fracking because our country still needs fossil fuels, for now.
• She’ll invest in clean energy infrastructure project including Clean Energy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, including for the same pipefitters, insulators, and other workers who built the systems in the first place.
OUR ENVIRONMENT
• We’ll Create millions of family-supporting and union jobs in clean energy generation
• We will restore protections for irreplaceable public lands and waters, from Bears Ears National Monument to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• We will invest to help farmers reduce pesticide and chemical fertilizer use
• Ensure that FEMA has the experienced leadership, staff, and resources to response to climate change-influenced and other disasters
• Hold fossil fuel companies accountable for cleaning up their messes
CLEAN ELECTRIC TRANSPORTATION
• Partner with state and local governments to install at least 500,000 public charging stations
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HARRIS PLAN “Environment”
CLIMATE CHANGE
Harris has long focused on fighting climate change in her political career.
She created an environmental justice office as the district attorney in San Francisco. As California attorney general, she sued oil companies to curb pollution. And in the Senate, she signed on to the Green New Deal, the ambitious plan to speed up the transition to a clean-energy economy.
While seeking the 2020 nomination, Harris said she would ban fracking and pursue the Green New Deal, a sweeping progressive effort to shift the country toward renewable energy.
The White House took a more measured approach. The Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by Biden, pumped $375 billion into the fight against climate change, mostly through the creation of financial incentives for clean technologies. U.S. oil production also hit a record high even though Biden also pursued conservation efforts.
The Harris campaign said she would no longer try to stop fracking if elected this year in an apparent appeal to voters in Pennsylvania, which is a critical swing state that has also experienced a fracking boom in recent years. Harris would continue implementing the Biden administration’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides hundreds of billions of dollars in tax subsidies and grants for low-carbon and renewable energy projects.
Harris would also likely continue or expand on the Biden administration’s efforts on environmental justice, which had been a key focus for her even before she became vice president. “She will fight every day for all Americans to have access to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment,” Gina McCarthy, who served as Biden’s national climate adviser, said in a statement.
While the Biden administration has not lived up to some of Harris’s campaign promises, environmental groups have nonetheless been pleased with its record. They cite the biggest achievement as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a sweeping spending package that included $370 billion to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean-energy initiatives.
HARRIS ENDORSES THE 2024 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM – See Below
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NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE POLITICIANS THEMSELVES, BUT MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATES THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
SOURCE: AP News
https://apnews.com/article/inflation-reduction-act-renewable-energy-policy-economy-d5b0a7f15659930c6c15f0d180b193e8
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2024 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM POSITION: Environment and Climate Change
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BUILD A THRIVING, EQUITABLE, AND GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY
SAFEGUARD OUR ENVIRONMENT
CREATE MILLIONS OF FAMILY SUPPORTING UNION JOBS IN CLEAN ENERGY
ESTABLISH APPRENTICESHIPS FOR TRAINING AND DIRECT-HIRE PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
ACHIEVE NET-ZERO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
DRAMATICALLY EXPAND SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY
REESTABLISH STRONG STANDARDS FOR CLEAN CARS
BUILD MANUFACTURING OF ELECTRIC CARS AND BUSES POWERED BY HIGH PAYING UNION JOBS
INCENTIVIZE PRODUCTION OF LOW-CARBON CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL
PURSUE HIGH-PRODUCTIVITY, LOWER-EMISSIONS, REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
INVEST TO HELP FARMERS REDUCE CHEMICAL FERTILIZER AND PESTICIDE USE
ENSURE THAT FEMA HAS ALL IT NEEDS TO RESPOND IN AN EMERGENCY
HOLD FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE FOR CLEANUP
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HOW THE DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT.
NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE OFFICIAL DEMOCRATIC WEBSITE WHICH MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
GENERAL
Democrats believe there is a better way. We can and must build a thriving, equitable, and globally competitive clean energy economy that puts workers and communities first and leaves no one behind.
We applaud the organizing efforts of young people, union workers, and communities of color to mobilize voters and make the climate crisis a top priority. As Democrats, we believe the scientists: the window for unprecedented and necessary action is closing, and closing fast. Democrats reject the false choice between growing our economy and combating climate change; we can and must do both at the same time. We will use federal resources and authorities across all agencies to deploy proven clean energy solutions; create millions of family-supporting and union jobs; upgrade and make resilient our energy, water, wastewater, and transportation infrastructure; and develop and manufacture next-generation technologies to address the climate crisis right here in the United States.
Our Environment
We will restore protections for irreplaceable public lands and waters, from Bears Ears National Monument to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We will follow science and the law by reducing harmful methane and carbon pollution from the energy sector. America’s national parks and monuments, public lands, and marine protected areas are treasures that should be held in trust for future generations.
Democrats will immediately reverse the Trump Administration’s harmful rollbacks of protections for national monuments like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
Environmental Investments Re-invested
Democrats will target relevant investments with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits to disadvantaged and frontline communities, including in clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit and transportation; affordable and sustainable housing; remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and critical clean water infrastructure.
Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable
We will hold fossil fuel companies accountable for cleaning up abandoned mine lands, oil and gas wells, and industrial sites, so these facilities no longer pollute local environments and can be safely repurposed to support new economic activity, including in the heart of coal country.
FEMA
Democrats will ensure FEMA has the experienced leadership, staff, and resources necessary to coordinate the federal response to climate change-influenced and other disasters, and is equipped to work in partnership with, and drive federal resources to, state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments to mount a successful emergency response in conjunction with local emergency responders, help communities recover and rebuild, and invest in pre-disaster mitigation and resilience.
Clean Water
We will invest to help farmers reduce pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. And we will set science-based drinking water standards for emerging contaminants like PFOA and PFAS chemicals and establish aggressive plans for remediating this dangerous pollution. Energy companies should be held responsible for meeting strong standards to protect worker safety, public health, and the environment. Democrats are committed to ensuring tough safeguards in place, including Safe Drinking Water Act provisions, to protect local water supplies.
Good jobs in clean energy
Democrats will make investments to create millions of family-supporting and union jobs in clean energy generation, energy efficiency, clean transportation, advanced manufacturing, and sustainable agriculture across America. All jobs in the clean energy economy should provide an opportunity to join a union. Democrats will restore and protect workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. The clean energy economy must represent the diversity of America.
We will invest in the education and training of underrepresented groups, including people of color, low-income Americans, women, veterans, people with disabilities, and unemployed energy workers for jobs in clean energy-related industries, especially union jobs that provide strong opportunities for economic advancement.
Climate Change
Democrats will also mobilize a diverse new generation of young workers through a corps and cohort challenged to conserve our public lands; deliver new clean energy, including to low-income communities and communities of color; and address the changing climate, including through pre-apprenticeship opportunities, joint labor-management registered apprenticeships for training, and direct-hire programs that put good-paying and union jobs within reach for more Americans. Black, Latino, and immigrant workers are often on the front lines of disaster relief work with limited worker protections. Democrats will invest in this critical workforce, supporting the creation of family-supporting and union jobs in disaster response and climate resilience, with strong labor standards and worker protections, including good wages, benefits, access to paid leave, training and advancement opportunities.
Solar and Wind Energy
We agree with scientists and public health experts that the United States—and the world—must achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and no later than 2050.
To reach net-zero emissions as rapidly as possible, Democrats commit to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency. We will dramatically expand solar and wind energy deployment through community-based and utility-scale systems, including in rural areas. Within five years, we will install 500 million solar panels, including eight million solar roofs and community solar energy systems, and 60,000 wind turbines, and turn American ingenuity into American jobs by leveraging federal policy to manufacture renewable energy solutions in America. Recognizing the urgent need to decarbonize the power sector, our technology-neutral approach is inclusive of all zero-carbon technologies, including hydroelectric power, geothermal, existing and advanced nuclear, and carbon capture and storage.
Clean Energy Infrastructure
Democrats believe that any clean energy infrastructure project financed with federal support, including through the tax code, should come with robust wage and labor requirements. We will build a modern electric grid by investing in interstate transmission projects and advanced, 21st century grid technologies to power communities with clean electricity, including federal support to build sustainable and resilient energy grids in rural America and in Tribal areas lacking energy infrastructure. We will reduce methane pollution through strong federal standards and targeted support for repairing and replacing aging distribution systems, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, including for the same pipefitters, insulators, and other workers who built the systems in the first place and who know best how to protect our communities from methane pollution.
Net-Zero Emissions Agriculture
Democrats will partner with farmers to make the American agriculture sector the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions, opening up new sources of income for farmers in the process. We will substantially improve water security and ecological health through conservation, protection, and maintenance of our water infrastructure, including water systems for home, commercial, industrial, and agricultural use. We will expand federal programs to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners pursue high-productivity, lower-emission, and regenerative agricultural practices in order to help build more resilient, vibrant, local and regional food systems.
Electric Cars
Democrats affirm California’s statutory authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards for cars and trucks. We will immediately convene California and other states with labor, auto industry, and environmental leaders to inform ambitious executive actions that will enable the United States to lead the way in building a clean, 21st century transportation system and stronger domestic manufacturing base for electric vehicles powered by high-wage and union jobs. Democrats will move quickly to reestablish strong standards for clean cars and trucks that consider the most recent advances in technology, and accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles in the United States while reclaiming market share for domestically produced vehicles.
Electric Buses and Government Vehicles, too
We will reduce harmful air pollution and protect our children’s health by transitioning the entire fleet of 500,000 school buses to American-made, zero-emission alternatives within five years. We will lead by example in the public sector by transitioning the three million vehicles in the federal, state, and local fleets to zero-emission vehicles. Democrats will additionally support private adoption of affordable low-pollution and zero-emission vehicles by partnering with state and local governments to install at least 500,000 public charging stations from coast to coast.
Fight Climate Change Globally
We will work to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and move expeditiously to phase out super-polluting hydrofluorocarbons in the United States. We will restore funding to the Global Environment Facility and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to support critical climate science research around the world. We will support the protection of species and wildlife habitats around the world, including by advancing the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity, and encourage other countries to join us in conserving 30 percent of the planet by 2030.
Democrats will also work with world leaders to catalyze increased global investments in clean energy solutions and climate resilience, including to help low-income countries move along a more sustainable development path. We will promote climate accountability and mobilize a united front to keep states like China from outsourcing pollution to other countries.
NOTE: To learn more and see the complete Democratic Platform, go to: https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/building-a-stronger-fairer-economy
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SOURCE: Democratic Platform – On their official website
AND
CORE VALUES
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ENERGY
• Make America the dominate energy producer in the World including increasing Oil, gas, coal and building nuclear plants
• Trump will lift burdensome regulations and restriction on Fracking and drilling. “Drill Baby Drill!“
• Believes wind and solar energy is too expensive and Weak
ELECTRIC CARS
• Trump wants to have all forms of transportation, but cancel the electric car mandate
GREEN NEW DEAL
• Trump believes the Green New Deal is insanity and a job killer
BEAUTY
• Promote beauty in Public Architecture and preserve our Natural Treasures
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WHAT TRUMP SAYS – Video Transcripts
AGAINST ELECTRIC CARS AND THE GREEN NEW DEAL
What’s happening to our auto workers is an absolute disgrace and an outrage beyond belief. Auto workers are getting totally ripped off by Crooked Joe Biden and also their horrendous leadership. Because these people are allowing our country to do these electric vehicles that very few people want. And it’s a mandate so you’ll ultimately be forced to drive in a car that goes for an hour and then you have to have it recharged. I hope you don’t want to go very far away.
Biden has imposed the outlandish requirement that 67% of all new vehicles must be electric in less than ten years. That means Michigan and places that make cars you can forget about it, you better get your union working because you can forget about. Those cars are all going to be made in China.
According to the UAW president himself, one auto company CEO used the word brutality over 40 times in a single conversation to describe Joe Biden. I call him Crooked Joe because he’s the most corrupt president in history. He’s also the most incompetent.
But Joe Biden’s cruel and foolish electric vehicle mandate. That’s how bad this policy is. Your union heads know it. But the union bosses don’t want to do anything about it because they’re not leaders. But you know who is voting for me? The people in the union.
The union heads and Crooked Joe keep using the phrase fair transition. There’s no fair transition. First of all, people don’t want the electric car. And the ones that want it should get it. But we want to have all forms of transportation and all forms of motorization, to describe this unnecessary forced transition to electric vehicles.
But there’s no such thing as a fair transition that destroys over 100,000 auto manufacturing jobs (it will be much more than that), wastes tens of billions of dollars that should be going to the workers, and makes new cars entirely unaffordable.
For the middle class, that’s a transition to hell. You’re going to hell and your bosses are leading you right down the tubes. You shouldn’t pay your fees. They get these big fees from all of their workers.
And it doesn’t matter how bad they are, they’ll endorse a Democrat, even though the Democrats selling you down the tubes.
Both the UAW bosses and the big three auto executives should be screaming at the top of their lungs – they should be ashamed of themselves — demanding that Joe Biden cancel his brutal electric vehicle mandate before it destroys the entire U.S. auto sector.
If the union bosses and the CEOs refuse to fight back against Crooked Joe Biden, by forcing him to repeal this disastrous electric car scheme, then you will know they’re not pro-worker, they’re not on your side, they’ve got some deals going for themselves.
And I’m telling you, you shouldn’t pay those dues. You should not pay your dues because they’re selling you to hell. You’re going to be going to hell. You’re not going to have any jobs. All those cars are going to be made in China. Every one of them. You can forget it, Michigan. You can forget it, South Carolina. You can forget it, everybody. All of those cars are going to be made in China.
We sit on liquid gold, and we’re getting rid of combustion engines. And they sit on all of the other materials that you need for the batteries. They’re going to make all those cars. We’re not going to make any of them.
So to every auto worker, I stand in total solidarity with you in your fight against Joe Biden’s job-killing Green New Deal insanity. It’s insanity. When I am your president, I will deliver higher wages for auto workers. I will protect your jobs. I will end Joe Biden’s catastrophic electric vehicle mandate. And by the way, if you want an electric car, you’re going to get it. But you’re going to be able to get all other types of cars, types of vehicles that you want.
And on day one, you’re going to be back in business with me. And those factories are going to start opening up again. Remember when I got elected, I told you all about this in the campaign. And when I got elected, hardly a car company built outside of this country. I stopped it.
They didn’t go to Mexico anymore. I said if you go to Mexico, I’m putting a big tariff. You’ll make a car you’re going to have a 25% tariff if you send that car back into the United States. I stopped it. Well, right now they’re doing it again, worse than ever before. We lost 32% of our industry to Mexico prior to my getting there. And we lost almost nothing. Nothing. In fact, we were taking back our industry. But now it’s going again. I’ll straighten it out.
But you have to vote for Trump. You have to vote for Trump. You can’t listen to these union guys who get paid a lot of money and they get wined and dined in Washington. They know that electric cars are no good in terms of our workers.
So vote for Republicans but vote for Trump. Because if we don’t win this election, our country, not only in terms of auto workers, our country will go to hell.
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SOURCE: Official Donald Trump Website -Video transcript
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/president-trumps-message-to-americas-auto-workers
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“DRILL BABY DRILL”
Joe Biden has been a disaster for the economy. Between his massive tax hikes, his anti-energy crusade, and his trillions of dollars in wasteful spending, Biden caused the highest inflation in almost half a century.
As a result, interest rates soared to crushing levels. And now we’re seeing bank failures that nobody believed even possible just two years ago. Joe Biden is leading us toward a Great Depression.
I’ve been saying it for a long time. There should be no bailouts. But we need to get this economy straightened out as fast as possible. We’re headed down a very dangerous path.
When I’m back in the White House, I will immediately unleash energy production, slash regulations, like I did just three years ago, and repeal Biden’s tax hikes to get inflation down as fast as possible, and it will go quickly, so that interest rates can get back under control.
I built the greatest economy in the history of the world. In fact, I did it twice when you think about it, and now we will have to do it again. Thank you very much.
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SOURCE: Official Donald Trump Website -Video transcript
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-joe-biden-has-been-a-disaster-for-the-economy
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…We have to have affordable energy. Right now we have energy that’s weak, substandard, and unaffordable. It’s made by the wind. The windmills rust. They rot. They kill the birds. It’s the most expensive energy there is. And we have other things that are also no good. It’s called the Green New Deal — I call it the Green New Hoax.
NOTE: Wind and Solar energy production has become cheaper to produce. It’s now the same cost or cheaper than gas, oil or coal.
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SOURCE: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-america-must-have-the-1-lowest-cost-energy-and-electricity-on-earth
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2024 GOP PLATFORM POSITION: Environment
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MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!
CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS
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HOW THE REPUBLICANS WILL DO IT.
NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE DONALD TRUMP WEBSITE WHICH MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATE THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
Unleash American Energy
Under President Trump, the U.S. became the Number One Producer of Oil and Natural Gas in the World — and we will soon be again by lifting restrictions on American Energy Production and terminating the Socialist Green New Deal. Republicans will unleash Energy Production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash Inflation and power American homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable Energy.
Reliable and Abundant Low Cost Energy
Republicans will increase Energy Production across the board, streamline permitting, and end market-distorting restrictions on Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal. The Republican Party will once again make America Energy Independent, and then Energy Dominant, lowering Energy prices even below the record lows achieved during President Trump’s first term.
Save the American Auto Industry
Republicans will revive the U.S. Auto Industry by reversing harmful Regulations, canceling Biden’s Electric Vehicle and other Mandates, and preventing the importation of Chinese vehicles.
Restore American Beauty
Republicans will promote beauty in Public Architecture and preserve our Natural Treasures. We will build cherished symbols of our Nation, and restore genuine Conservation efforts.
NOTE: None of these actions have a positive effect on the environment or help stop Global Warming.
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NOTE: INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE OFFICIAL TRUMP WEBSITE, BUT MAY INCLUDES CLAIMS FROM THE CANDIDATE OR GOP THAT ARE NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE.
SOURCE: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform