Manchester, N.H. — Ahead of his four-day trip to New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg released “Toward A Cleaner, More Sustainable Future: An Environmental Approach for New Hampshire Communities” which focuses on four key areas: access to safe, clean water, clean energy, regional climate resiliency, and sustainable agriculture.



“Toward A Cleaner, More Sustainable Future: An Environmental Approach for New Hampshire Communities” includes provisions to ensure access to clean drinking water that is free from PFAS and other harmful chemicals. With New Hampshire communities impacted by PFAS contamination, a Buttigieg administration will:

Set standards to prevent new potential sources of PFAS contamination to air, land, and water.

Ensure the responsibility for cleanup is borne by those that caused the contamination in the first place.

Restrict the use of unsafe PFAS and create federal clean-up requirements for harmful PFAS under the Superfund law

Provide funding to clean up contamination that has been found across the country.

Buttigieg will discuss his approach to PFAS at a town hall in Portsmouth on Friday evening. He will also discuss his climate and environmental plan at town halls in Keene and North Conway.

“Clean water is a basic right. It’s unacceptable that in 2020, so many Americans can’t safely drink a glass of water from their tap,” said Buttigieg. “Providing clean water is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government — and we have to do better. If we can get clean water to our military bases in Afghanistan then we can get it to communities across America. Grounded in science, my plan will protect our drinking water from PFAS and other chemicals and ensure communities across the country have the tools and resources they need to build a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future.”

Ahead of the trip, Pete For America is also launching a new television ad, “Recruit,” focusing on Pete’s commitment to bringing Americans together — from rural communities to industrial workers — to address the climate crisis.

Watch the ad here:

Watch “Recruit”

“Toward A Cleaner, More Sustainable Future” builds on the comprehensive climate change plan that Buttigieg released in September, which garnered endorsements from New Hampshire State Representative John Mann (Alstead) and noted clean energy and progressive advocate Dan Weeks. And State Representative Dave Morrill (Keene) cited Pete’s rural economy plan — which supports agriculture and significantly invests in R&D as a powerful solution to climate change, including carbon sequestration through soil — in his September endorsement of Buttigieg. Buttigieg has also laid out an environmental justice platform as part of his Douglass Plan released in July.

More Information on the plan below.

Toward A Cleaner, More Sustainable Future: An Environmental Approach for New Hampshire Communities

Introduction. The American people are facing one of the greatest tests in our history. Climate catastrophe is on the horizon–and is impacting Americans today. Communities across the United States, including in New Hampshire, are feeling the effects of extreme weather events and changing rainfall patterns. In South Bend, I have had to order the activation of the emergency operations center for 1,000-year and 500-year floods that came less than two years apart. As temperatures and sea levels rise, so does the cost of food and flood insurance. New health issues from heat, air pollution, and the spread of infectious diseases are growing. From hurricanes devastating Puerto Rico to fires ravaging Australia, climate change is affecting everyone, everywhere. It is the security challenge of our time, and a wall on our southern border won’t help.

To combat the climate crisis and ensure health, security, and prosperity for all Americans, we need a new vision for the future. One that summons all of the energies of our country into a national project that unifies us around the urgent need to confront climate change, and the tremendous opportunity that lies in getting it right. One that does not shy away from systemic change, but embraces it as part of who we are. Pete’s climate plan harnesses the power of cities and towns, local communities, and rural America to ensure we are all part of the solution.

Pete’s approach allows New Hampshire to continue transitioning to clean energy sources like offshore wind. It also increases the resilience and reliability of the state’s electricity system while helping reduce consumer power costs, which are among the most expensive in the country. As a coastal state with significant ocean and forest resources, New Hampshire will be an important partner in the Buttigieg administration’s resilience agenda. Central components of his environmental approach include the following:

Ensure Safe Drinking Water. Everyone in the United States deserves access to safe drinking water. As a Mayor, Pete has firsthand experience with the complexity and responsibility of ensuring residents have access to safe water. Ensuring safe water starts with tackling contamination and pollution, including from chemicals like PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have contaminated water supplies in New Hampshire and communities across the country.

As President, Pete will oversee an ambitious effort to ensure safe clean drinking water by developing science-based standards that limit harmful PFAS in drinking water, investing in technologies to detect PFAS, and devoting federal funding to further assess the health risks of PFAS. He will set standards to prevent new sources of PFAS contamination to air, land, and water and ensure the responsibility for cleanup is borne by those that caused the contamination not communities. Additionally, he will create and enforce federal clean up requirements for harmful PFAS under the Superfund law and provide funding to clean up contamination that has been found across the country. And PFAS is far from the only threat to water safety. As shared in his Douglass Plan, Pete will also expand enforcement of environmental protections and invest in solutions to other environmental threats, particularly focusing on communities of color and working families who face disproportionate health effects from pollution and lead or other environmental water contaminants.

Build a Clean Economy. As Pete lays out in his bold agenda to combat climate change, we must transform our energy system to ensure a clean, prosperous future for our children and to remain competitive in a changing global economy. As President, Pete will invest hundreds of billions of dollars in research, development, and deployment of clean energy like solar and offshore wind—reducing our carbon footprint and laying the groundwork for a thriving clean economy. By developing these technologies and building them right here in the U.S., his administration will create over three million high-paying clean energy and infrastructure jobs in the U.S. over the coming decade.

To do this, Pete will quadruple federal R&D funding, create a $250 billion American Clean Energy Bank to finance renewable and other clean energy projects, and ensure that every American has access to clean, reliable energy. Pete will work with Congress to implement a bold and achievable Green New Deal, setting a realistic plan to become a net-zero emissions society no later than 2050. Building on examples like New Hampshire’s partnership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Pete will enact a price on carbon and use the revenue to send rebates to Americans. He will invest in electrifying passenger and motor vehicle fleets, driving down transportation emissions.

Invest in Climate Security and Community Resilience. Climate security means community resilience. As President, Pete will protect the well-being of all Americans—from rural America to coastal communities—by investing in local solutions. By focusing on community resilience, Pete will ensure that fewer Americans suffer the impacts of extreme weather and sea level rise, and that resources are available to help when they are needed the most. He will establish Regional Resilience hubs, which will work with community leaders, the private sector, and academia to help communities understand and manage their risks, and deploy $5 billion in new annual funding. As shared in his disaster preparedness plan, Pete’s administration will prioritize equitable disaster relief, as shared in his disaster preparedness plan so that all communities get the resources they need to recover and rebuild from disasters.

Support Sustainable Agriculture. For too long, rural America has been ignored in the climate conversation—or worse, told that whole regions and ways of life are a part of the problem. Pete recognizes that farmers are at the forefront of American climate innovation, from deploying new technologies to capture carbon in soil to building climate -change resilient agriculture practices. As President, Pete will double research and development in sustainable agriculture practices, paying farmers to adopt new practices that reduce emissions, and double investment in extension services that support farmers, ranchers, and rural families as they seek to improve farm efficiency and sustainability. Farmers feed our families and we must invest in them so they continue to feed us today and tomorrow.

The New Hampshire Labor News is a group of NH Workers who believe that we need to protect ourselves against the attacks on workers. We are proud union members who are working to preserve the middle class. The NHLN talks mostly about news and politics from NH. We also talk about national issues that effect working men and women here in the Granite State.

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