Former New Mexico governor and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson accepts climate change science and “that it is man-caused” while attributing the current condition of the coal industry to “the free market’ not regulation.
“A great example of the free market at work in addressing carbon emissions — we’re all demanding less carbon emission — is the coal industry,” Johnson said. “Nobody is building a new coal plant when natural gas is much cheaper than even the low point of coal right now. Effectively, coal is bankrupt. There’s not going to be any new coal plants built. It’s not going to happen given what I think is the free market.”
He also said he is “open also the notion of a carbon tax” but not as a “revenue generator.”
“There are health and safety issues with carbon,” Johnson said. He and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, are averaging about ten percent in national polls.