In a debate held earlier this week, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio argued that policies to reduce carbon emissions are bad for the economy, would “destroy” jobs and are “not the approach I want to take.” He instead pressed for mitigation, calling it “the better approach.”
“If in fact sea levels are rising we should spend money to mitigate that,” he said. “As a policy maker, you have to show me whether the laws you want me to pass will actually impact the issue that you are raising. I have people that come to me and say: we want you to pass these laws on carbon emissions, and I ask them, well how many inches of sea rise will it prevent?”
Rubio said he wants the U.S. “to have an all-of-the-above energy strategy…that includes wind and solar and biofuels and renewables. I just think it’s frankly irresponsible not to also say we’re going to fully utilize natural gas and oil and nuclear energy. And, yes, clean coal technology has a place in it as well. We should have the broadest, most diverse energy subset possible.”