Jason Noble

jnoble2@dmreg.com

Cap-and-trade and a tax on carbon emissions should be part of the national policy discussion for addressing climate change, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rob Hogg said Monday.

Hogg is running in a four-way primary for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. The winner of that race will face six-term Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in November. Hogg, a state senator from Cedar Rapids, called the global threat of climate change his top priority and the issue that motivated him to run for office during an hour-long interview with The Des Moines Register’s editorial board.

Even as he voiced support for ideas that have proved to be non-starters so far in Congress, Hogg pledged that his approach to governing would be informed by the pragmatism he’s learned in 14 years as a state legislator.

“I’m very flexible on how we do it, but we have to have a comprehensive national climate policy in order for this country to deal with this generational challenge,” Hogg said.

That policy could include current tax incentives and other programs encouraging alternative energy development as well as further-reaching steps like a cap and trade regulatory system or a federal tax or fee on carbon emissions, he said.

“I support cap and trade, I support a carbon tax,” Hogg said. “I support them singularly or together.”

A cap-and-trade system in which the government sets over-all limits on carbon emissions and grants tradable permits to emitters was passed by the U.S. House in 2009 but failed in the Senate. Since then, Republicans have routinely used it in campaign attacks against Democrats, arguing that it would harm the economy and raise prices on consumers.

Hogg, though, argues that federal action on the climate could be an economic stimulus, encouraging innovation and growth in new industries.

“What also excites me is by acting on climate change and acting on clean water, we have really unlimited economic potential,” Hogg said. “I like to tell audiences that it’s real, it’s serious, it’s urgent and we need to act. That’s the bad news. The good news is we have all kinds of solutions that work.”

Hogg also addressed international trade in his meeting with the Register’s editorial board, expressing opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement involving the United States and 11 other countries.

The deal is supported by the Obama administration but faces Congressional approval.

“I believe in trade that raises up all countries on labor standards, environmental standards and consumer standards,” Hogg said. “We need to have trade agreements that raise people up. I do not want to participate in a race to the bottom.”

Hogg cautioned that he hasn’t studied the TPP agreement in depth, but would oppose it “if I were to vote on it today.”