For the Climate Minded Voter…
So before we head into the next round of primaries I wanted to add a little context and depth to the conversation we are having on Climate Change and what candidate best reflects the concerns of the Climate Change movement.
Why Hillary Clinton is definitely NOT your candidate:
1. Hillary’s “safe and responsible” energy plan calls for expansion of domestic fracking, which has been shown to disproportionately impact communities of color.
2. She promoted fracking as Secretary of State both domestically & internationally and her own SuperPAC has credited her with selling fracking to the world.
3. The State Dept. under Hillary attempted to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline, outsourcing the review process to TransCanada, a company with an extremely poor safety record which was building the pipeline.
4. She has deep ties to fossil fuel financiers and lobbyists including Jeff Berman who now holds a senior position on her 2016 campaign and was a top lobbyist for TransCanada.
5. Her financial bundlers for the 2016 campaign include several oil lobbyists. And Clinton has many of the same donors as far-right politicians, including one of the worst Gov. Rick Snyder.
6. Half of Clinton’s speaking fees come from groups lobbying Congress, several of which were lobbying on fossil fuels.
7. The Hillary campaign and her SuperPAC’s have received large contributions from fossil-fuel industry groups, along with all GOP candidates.
8. The Clinton Foundation has been called by some a “money laundering” operation, with Keystone-related groups, foreign oil companies, and other big oil interests giving millions to the foundation while Hillary was Secretary of State and actively lobbying Congress to fast-track the KXL pipeline.
9. Not surprisingly, Hillary has never offered a comprehensive plan on fossil fuel extraction or climate change, though she publicly supports climate action. the climate section of her website was recently scrubbed, and she has implicitly ruled out a carbon tax through her opposition to new taxes on anyone making less than $250K.
10. Clinton has a long and clear record of supporting Free Trade deals including NAFTA, CAFTA, and the TPP. Note: TransCanada is now suing the US for $15B for blocking the Keystone pipeline (via the NAFTA agreement).
11. The latest email dump from Clinton’s servers show she was aggressively promoting the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, despite having vowed to her voters to block it.
12. Under these neoliberal trade agreements supported by Clinton, the US just announced it will sue India for its “Solar Revolution” plan through the World Trade Organization.
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Why Bernie Sanders DEFINITELY is your candidate:
1. Sanders introduced the Keep It In The Ground Act – legislation that would put an end to fossil-fuel leases on public lands.
2. Sanders calls climate change our greatest national security threat.
3. Sanders supports a national ban on tracking (video), and is running television ads showing how fracking disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color, polluting domestic water supplies (video).
4. Sanders has stated his support for the fossil-fuel Divest-Invest movement.
5. Sanders has a long record of introducing legislation and initiating programs to protect the environment and expand clean, renewable energy.
6. Sanders supports a strong and rising carbon tax to fund clean energy infrastructure, creating millions of working class jobs in America.
7. Sanders has a long and very clear record of opposing free trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA, and the TPP which allows corporations to sue governments if their environmental laws impact shareholder value.
8. Sanders called for Governor Rick Snyder’s resignation because of the Flint water crisis, in which government leaders at all levels knew they were poisoning this low-income community.
9. Sanders is one of the most outspoken critics of the Koch brothers and GOP climate deniers (video).
10. Sanders has a long record of supporting environmental justice and is the ONLY candidate with a climate justice plank in his comprehensive climate platform.
11. While Clinton’s campaign is being run by fossil fuel lobbyists, Sanders’ campaign is staffed with a roster of important climate activists, including Becky Bond, Zack Malitz, Karthik Ganapathy, Claire Sandberg.
12. It goes without saying, Sanders does not take any money from fossil fuel companies, financiers, oil & gas lobbyists, either directly or through a PAC, unlike Clinton who receives large contributions from all of the above.
