New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addressed questions on climate change by telling attendees at a campaign event, “I’m a candidate in this race who has said I believe climate change is real and I believe human activity contributes to it. So now, what do we do is the question.”
Christie explained the approach they took in New Jersey. “We took a variety of approaches to try to broaden the way we develop our electricity with an eye toward making sure that we protect our environment. So 53 percent of New Jersey’s electricity comes from nuclear power. Nuclear power doesn’t add to climate change at all. We’ve operated those nuclear reactors in the most densely populated state in America safely for four decades.”
“Listen everybody, Three Mile Island was a long time ago and the technology is much better and you need to get over it.”
Christie went on to describe New Jersey’s investments in solar power. “We’ve put them everywhere… And that should be part of what we do for America as well, but we should do it state by state.”
“We’ve moved to build three new natural gas firing plants in New Jersey. Lower carbon footprint than coal. More efficient and for us, more effective,” Christie said. “I don’t think we should do anything that ties our hands behind our back as an economy. We need a multiple approach to developing our energy sources.”
“You all are going to have to make some decisions,” Christie said. “Those decisions should not be made by the federal government, they should be made by the state government and the people inside the state… What I should be able to do is to give you options… and you pick from among those options.”
“Give people options,” Christie said.