Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

MINNEAPOLIS — Bernie Sanders focused on climate change during a rally here Monday, announcing opposition to two pipeline projects that would affect the state.

Enbridge Inc.’s Sandpiper and Alberta Clipper pipelines would bring a combined 1.4 million more barrels of oil per day into Midwestern refineries, according to the campaign.

“Our moral responsibility is to make sure that we leave this planet in a way that is healthy and inhabitable for future generations,” he said at the rally. “Fossil fuel companies cannot wreck our planet for their short term profits.”

Sanders highlighted his leadership role in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which his rival Hillary Clinton came out against in September. As president, he said he would direct the State Department to review whether approval of the projects would make climate change worse, just as President Obama did when he rejected the pipeline.

Sanders has launched a new television ad in Minnesota and Colorado about his stance against Keystone and fracking. He targeted Clinton for holding a “high-dollar fundraiser” in January at a hedge fund, Franklin Square Capital, and criticized her for “taking money from those who would profit off the destruction of the planet.”

Clinton wants to move away from fossil fuels, including gas, but she said in October she sees gas as a “useful bridge” to renewable alternatives.