Boxes full of opposition to the TPP fast track

Boxes full of opposition to the TPP fast track

Dave Anderson writing at the Boulder Weekly has analyzed Bernie Sanders environmental history for a look at what to expect if Sanders becomes POTUS.

Anderson had some great input from none other than Bill McKibben, who is considered the "nations leading environmentalist" by the Boston Globe. Not surprising, Bill McKibben introduced Bernie Sanders when he made the announcement of his candidacy in Burlington, Vt on May 26.

What McKibben had to say about Sanders environmental history: “(Sanders is) a stand-up guy. When we told him about the Keystone Pipeline in the summer of 2011, he immediately set to work helping us block it. He strategized, he used his bully pulpit in the Senate to spread the word, and he devoted staff time to pressuring the State Department. Contrast that with, say, Barack Obama who was mostly silent about climate change his whole first term, and managed to make it all the way through the 2012 campaign without discussing it. Or Hillary Clinton, who after initially saying she was ‘inclined’ to approve Keystone has gone entirely mum on the most iconic environmental issue of our time. Who showed up in New York for the People’s Climate March? Bernie Sanders. Who said, straightforwardly in today’s official announcement, ‘the peril of global climate change, with catastrophic consequences, is the central challenge of our times and our planet.’ That would be Bernie Sanders.”

Below is Bernie Sanders legislative history pertaining to climate change and the environment:



In 2013, Sanders introduced — along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) — the Climate Protection Act. It would tax carbon and methane emissions and rebate three-fifths of the revenue to citizens, then invest the rest in energy efficiency, climate resiliency and sustainable energy (including investments in wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and plug-in vehicles). In 2013, Sanders introduced the Residential Energy Savings Act to fund financing programs that would help residents retrofit their homes for energy efficiency. In 2012, Sanders introduced the End Polluter Welfare Act, to eliminate subsidies and tax breaks for coal, oil and gas producers. He said at the time, “It is immoral that some in Congress advocate savage cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while those same people vote to preserve billions in tax breaks for ExxonMobil, the most profitable corporation in America.” He’s also an opponent of subsidies and tax breaks for the nuclear power industry. In 2010, Sanders authored a bill to encourage the development of “distributed solar power” all over the United States. That means anyone with a solar panel could create their own energy instead of depending on a monopolistic utility company. Sanders called it the “10 Million Solar Roofs & 10 Million Gallons of Solar Hot Water Act.”

Sanders is the only major presidential candidate to support a ban on fracking and in fact was instrumental in forwarding the fracking ban in Vermont.

IMO, one of the strongest actions that Sanders has taken to protect the environment has been his strong stance in opposition to the TPP which I wrote about here and here.

I wrote about Hillary Clinton's environmental creds here.

The 2016 election is make or break for the climate. We don't have time to make a mistake in our selection for our 2016 leaders.