This week in climate change, Ohio Gov. John Kasich campaigned in his own backyard, where he pitched his support for clean energy but also addressed energy issues related to the manufacturing industry.
“We want to make sure we promote [renewable energy] and we also want to look forward to battery technologies that can change us,” Kasich told participants of a town hall meeting in Youngstown. “But we don’t want to give up on the traditional sources of energy. We should continue to dig coal, but we have to clean it before we burn it. We’ve been doing it in our state. We want to develop natural gas, that’s very important.”
“Youngstown has a history of manufacturing,” Kasich said. “You want to bring more jobs back to the Mahoning Valley, in things like manufacturing? You better have the cheapest energy you can have in the world. Do you know how much these alternative energies cost? A lot more than our traditional energy sources.”
Kasich won his home state primary, unlike Sen. Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the GOP race after failing to emerge victorious in Florida.
“Sure, the climate is changing. And one of the reasons why the climate is changing is because the climate is always changing,” Rubio frequently said on the campaign trail. “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?’
“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.”
After his victory in Ohio, Kasich shifted his campaign efforts to Pennsylvania, where he talked to students at Villanova University.
“Everything in the world is changing,” Kasich said in references to several issues, including energy. He defended his belief that human activity contributes to climate change. “I have the right to shape what it means to me to be a conservative,” the governor said.
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