After his failure to win the primary in his home state of Florida yesterday, Sen. Marco Rubio dropped from the race for the GOP nomination.
A snapshot of Rubio’s climate positioning:
Under increasing pressure from mayors of Florida’s coastal communities to make commitments on what he’d do as president to combat climate change and sea level rise, Rubio was asked a debate question last week on behalf of Republican Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado.
“Sure, the climate is changing. And one of the reasons why the climate is changing is because the climate is always changing,” Rubio said, reiterating a common refrain from his campaign. “There’s never been a time when the climate is not changing.”
“I think the fundamental question for a policymaker is: is the climate changing because of something we are doing and if so, is there a law we can pass to fix it?’
“As far as a law that we can pass in Washington to change the weather, there’s no such thing,” Rubio added. “On the contrary, there are laws they want us to pass that would be devastating for our economy.”
“I’m in favor of a clean environment,” Rubio said. “But these laws some people are asking us to pass will do nothing for the environment and they will hurt and devastate our economy.”
In December, Rubio called the Paris Climate Accord an “unfunny joke” and told #dare2ask climate crusader Kelsi Wolever that “we need to have energy policies that are good for our economy. We’re already one of the cleanest nations on earth. I do think American innovators can make us more efficient, cleaner without big government mandates.”
Rubio frequently said he wants the U.S. to “lead the world in everything” related to energy production.