https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2024/10/01/helene-hangs-over-vp-debate-00181886
Tonight’s vice presidential debate offers a prime-time chance to ask candidates about their approaches to climate change — and the events of the past week couldn’t make a clearer case for making this part of the conversation.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance will take the stage as the Southeast reels from the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene, an unusually large storm that was likely supercharged by record-warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The cost to repair the damage could reach $34 billion, according to the financial data firm Moody’s.
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When it comes to addressing climate change, Vance has championed fracking and derided clean energy since he joined the Senate. It’s worth noting, however, that Vance wasn’t always such a fossil fuel fan. In 2020, he spoke at Ohio State University about society’s “climate problem” and said using natural gas as a power source “isn’t exactly the sort of thing that’s gonna take us to a clean energy future.”
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The Walz way: As Minnesota governor, Walz has overseen the recovery efforts from seven presidentially declared natural disasters — and has pointed to that experience while talking about Helene. He also enacted a number of environmental and climate policies in Minnesota that Democrats would like to replicate nationally, taking advantage of tax boons in President Joe Biden’s signature climate law.
Climate hawks see an obvious opening for Walz to connect the hurricane to the need for climate action, juxtaposed with Trump and Vance’s rejection of climate science. But Walz has mostly spoken about climate change in the context of clean air and water. At his convention acceptance speech, for example, Walz made no mention of climate or the energy laws he’s passed.
