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Beto for America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BETO
O’ROURKE RELEASES BOLD, AMBITIOUS PLAN TO CONFRONT THE EXISTENTIAL
THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITIES
YOSEMITE
VALLEY, CALIFORNIA —
Today, Beto O’Rourke released a bold and ambitious plan to confront the
existential threat of climate change and invest in our communities. The
plan is built around a four-part framework: 1) implementing a slate of
forceful Day One executive actions to start cutting pollution across
all sectors of the U.S. economy at the outset of an O’Rourke
Administration; 2) mobilizing $5 trillion over 10 years — spurred by
the single largest investment in fighting climate change in history —
to transform our aging infrastructure, accelerate innovation, and
empower our people and communities to lead the climate fight; 3)
working with Congress to enact a legally enforceable standard to
guarantee the U.S. achieves net-zero emissions by 2050 and gets half
way there by 2030; and 4) taking significant actions to defend
communities that are preparing for and fighting fires, floods,
droughts, hurricanes, and other devastating climate impacts.
A fact sheet outlining the plan is available here and
online
at betoorourke.com/climate-
Beto
is highlighting his plan during events throughout California’s Central
Valley — a region that is not only experiencing the damaging impacts of
climate change, but also unlocking many of the answers to help solve
the crisis. On Sunday, Beto met with firefighters in Mariposa County
who have been on the frontlines of combating ever-worsening wildfires.
Today, he will participate in a walking tour of Yosemite National Park
before visiting Modesto Junior College for a tour and climate change
roundtable with local farmers, innovators, educators and advocates.
Beto will continue listening to and learning from Americans about their
ideas to fight climate change and outline additional elements
supporting his framework in the months ahead.
“The greatest
threat we face — which will test our country, our democracy, every
single one of us — is climate change. We have one last chance to
unleash the ingenuity and political will of hundreds of millions of
Americans to meet this moment before it's too late,” said
O’Rourke. “The
actions we’re announcing today will help us get there — by wasting no
time cutting pollution, making historic investments in infrastructure,
innovation, and our communities, setting bold emissions targets, and
defending those most at risk from the dangers and destruction of
climate change.”
As part of the four-part framework, Beto would
not just re-enter the Paris Agreement but lead on setting more
ambitious global goals for 2030 and beyond; set a 2030 net-zero
emissions target for federal lands and stop all new leasing on- and
off-shore; invest more than $200 billion in research with the most
promise to help us achieve our emissions targets; and increase funding
for cost-effective pre-disaster mitigation grants and the federal
crop-insurance program.
Beto’s plan aligns with the 2050
emissions goal of the Green New Deal, sets us on a path to grow our
economy and shrink inequality, and reflects the ambition and urgency of
organizers, activists, and young people all across the country. As
president, Beto would pay for and implement his plan through a
combination of legislative and executive actions. The investments in
his framework will be funded by structural changes to the tax code to
ensure that corporations and the wealthiest among us pay their fair
share and by finally ending the tens of billions of dollars of tax
breaks currently given to fossil fuel companies.
Throughout his
years of public service, Beto has been a leader on environmental and
climate justice issues both in his community of El Paso and across the
country. In 2007, when the American Smelting and Refining Company
(ASARCO) sought to reopen its El Paso copper smelting facility — which
had been exposing El Pasoans to unsafe levels of lead and other
chemicals for nearly a century — Beto played a pivotal role in opposing
the company’s attempt to keep profiting off of poisoning one of the
poorest communities in America. Even after the facility was permanently
shuttered, Beto continued to fight on behalf of former ASARCO employees
by supporting health studies for the workers and advocating before
state and federal agencies for the compensation they deserved. In 2008,
shortly after the Department of Interior proposed opening the Otero
Mesa to oil and gas exploration, Beto spurred the El Paso City Council
into action, demanding that Congress provide permanent protection to
these unique grasslands.
Arriving in Congress in 2012, Beto
continued his advocacy for a wide range of environmental issues. He has
repeatedly stood against efforts to deny the reality of climate change,
cosponsoring legislation to protest the withdrawal from the Paris
Agreement and voting time and again against efforts to limit the
regulation of greenhouse gases. When President Obama’s Clean Power Plan
was challenged, Beto opposed legislative efforts to repeal the plan and
also submitted a legal brief with his colleagues defending it in the
Supreme Court. Hailing from a state that is the nation’s largest
producer of wind energy and has significant solar energy potential,
Beto has been a forceful advocate for federal investments in renewable
energy.
Beto has also been a champion of our public lands,
sponsoring bills in Congress that would prohibit drilling for fossil
fuels in the Arctic Ocean, protect public land in Utah, and make
substantial investments in the National Park Service. Most recently,
Beto introduced legislation, which President Trump signed into law,
that would protect the Castner Range — 7,000 acres of
ecologically-important land surrounded by the Franklin Mountains in the
Chihuahuan Desert.
Inslee for America
For Immediate Release: Monday, April 29, 2019
Contact: Inslee Press
Inslee for America Statement on Beto O'Rourke's Climate Plan
Today, Inslee for America's campaign manager Aisling Kerins issued the following statement on the release of former Congressman Beto O'Rourke's climate plan."Climate change will be the top issue in this primary, and it's good news that Democratic candidates are putting forward ideas on the issue. But, voters have a right to look closely at Democratic candidates' plans to separate rhetoric from results on climate change.
"Governor Inslee has dedicated his public life to defeating climate change, and he has gotten results - including passing a 100% clean electricity bill this week that has been called a ''model of cutting-edge climate policy.'
"Beto O'Rourke's plan today includes several general references to results that Gov. Inslee has achieved in Washington state: accelerating clean energy deployment, expanding use of zero-emissions vehicles, and banning hydrofluorocarbons.
"Climate change needs to be the top priority of the next president. And we will not defeat climate change with empty rhetoric, borrowed rhetoric,
"Beto O'Rourke will need to answer why he did not lead on climate change in Congress and why he voted on the side of oil companies to open up offshore drilling.
"We look forward to a climate debate - where voters will have the opportunity to hear about which candidates have a strong, extensive record of fighting climate change and which candidates have a record of siding with fossil fuel companies."