NBC News transcript
From Democratic Presendital Debate – February 19, 2020
NBC’s CHUCK TODD: We’re going to stick to this topic. But, Senator Sanders, I’m going to move to fracking. You want a total ban on natural gas extraction, fracking, in the next five years. The industry, obviously, supports a lot of jobs around the country, including thousands in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
One union official there told the New York Times, quote, “If we end up with a Democratic candidate that supports a fracking ban, I’m going to tell my members that either you don’t vote or you vote for the other guy.” What do you tell these workers, it’s supporting a big industry right now, sir?
BERNIE SANDERS: “What I tell these workers is that the scientists are telling us that if we don’t act incredibly boldly within the next six, seven years, there will be irreparable damage done not just in Nevada, not just to Vermont or Massachusetts, but to the entire world.
Joe [Biden] said it right: This is an existential threat. You know what that means, Chuck? That means we’re fighting for the future of this planet.”
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: “And the Green New Deal that I support, by the way, will create up to 20 million good-paying jobs as we move our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. This is a moral issue, my friends. We have to take the responsibility of making sure that the planet we leave our children and grandchildren is a planet that is healthy and habitable. That is more important than the profits of the fossil fuel industry.”
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Related:
Have you learned nothing about polling when it comes to Trump? Do you really believe this poll? This poll showing Sanders would beat Trump in PA is more fake news.
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) February 20, 2020
In fact, fracking — or “hydraulic fracturing,” in more technical terms — has helped the U.S. reduce its carbon emissions by allowing the energy industry to harness vast reserves of clean-burning natural gas.
Last year alone, U.S. emissions fell by 2 percent, in the midst of an economic boom where Americans were producing and consuming more, thanks to a switch from coal to natural gas, much of it made available through fracking. The shift to renewable energy is a minor factor compared to natural gas. The U.S. is virtually unique among all industrial economies in achieving this environmental, economic feat.
Sanders and Bloomberg split over banning fracking – Sanders would ban fracking and said he would tell (energy sector) workers of the need to act “incredibly boldly” in the near future to prevent “irreparable” global damage from climate change.
Bloomberg: “We are not going to get rid of fracking for a while.”
CNN’s Zakaria: “The Sanders green energy plan is magical thinking. It presumes that we can reduce emissions in electricity and transport to zero in ten years while simultaneously shutting down the only two low-emissions, always available sources of power that collectively provide nearly 60 percent of America’s electricity today. And that makes me wonder: Is the real problem that Bernie Sanders will lose or that he might win.”
No, AOC, Fracking Doesn’t Harm Drinking Water – Don’t ban fracking nationwide
USA Led Entire World In Reducing CO2 Emissions In 2019 – International Energy Agency Report – The United States led the entire world in reducing CO2 emissions last year while also experiencing solid economic growth, according to a newly released report. “The United States saw the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 on a country basis – a fall of 140 Mt, or 2.9%, to 4.8 Gt,” The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Tuesday. “US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period.”
“A 15% reduction in the use of coal for power generation underpinned the decline in overall US emissions in 2019,” the IEA continued. “Coal-fired power plants faced even stronger competition from natural gas-fired generation, with benchmark gas prices an average of 45% lower than 2018 levels. As a result, gas increased its share in electricity generation to a record high of 37%. Overall electricity demand declined because demand for air-conditioning and heating was lower as a result of milder summer and winter weather. The IEA noted that 80% of the increase in CO2 emissions came from Asia and that China and India both contributed significantly to the increase.
Ocasio-Cortez Explains Why She’s Sponsoring A Bill To Ban Fracking Across The US – AOC claims: ‘Fracking is destroying our land and our water.’
Unlike in Europe, the US approach to ‘climate change’ is actually working – “Instead of banning fossil fuels outright, the U.S. embraced natural gas amid a boom in its production. Thanks to a process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” we’ve managed to tap new reserves of natural gas. In 2015, the U.S. surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s top producer of natural gas. By 2018, energy companies produced over 60% more natural gas than they had two decades earlier. This newfound abundance of natural gas has helped our nation transition away from coal, which emits twice as much carbon dioxide.
Thanks to this shift, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have hit 30-year lows, even as global emissions have increased by 50% during the same period. And since 2005, natural gas has done more to reduce power sector dioxide emissions than all renewable energy sources combined, according to the Energy Information Administration.
By eschewing regulation, America has also spurred additional emissions-reducing innovations in the private sector. Freed from red tape, U.S. energy firms have been able to devise and implement a host of groundbreaking green technologies.
Yale Says Fracking Causes Sexually-Transmitted Diseases – Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health published one of the dumbest papers we’ve ever seen. They claim that some areas in which fracking takes place (Texas only) have more sexually transmitted diseases. Embarrassingly funny and, yes, “fracking” stupid.
Global Fossil Fuel Emissions Up 0.6% In 2019 – Due to China
Trump: Ending Obama-Era Regs Made USA #1 Producer Of Oil And Gas
