This is the twenty-ninth article in a continuing series by the NRDC Action Fund on the environmental stances of candidates in key races around the country.
Connecticut leans Democratic – the state legislature, all five Congressional Districts and both Senate seats are currently occupied by Democrats (Joe Lieberman is a former Democrat, who ran as an Independent in 2006) – but that hasn’t led to an uncompetitive or uninteresting race to replace retiring Senator Chris Dodd. Though, perhaps, drama should be expected when one of the nominees is the former CEO of the World Wresting Entertainment Linda McMahon. McMahon is a political neophyte facing Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s Attorney General since 1991, in the race to succeed Dodd. As the Connecticut Post reports, there are stark differences between the two candidates on energy and environmental issues.
Because of his strong positions on environmental issues, Blumenthal has earned endorsements from the Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club and from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). John Blake, Connecticut Sierra Club Chapter Chair, said that:
Richard Blumenthal has worked with unfailing determination to protect the environmental quality of Connecticut… We trust he will be a strong advocate for rebuilding America’s economy and creating jobs by promoting clean energy technologies, saving Americans money through energy efficiency projects, promoting smart land use policies, restoring water protections eroded by the courts, and reducing pollution. He strongly supports assisting US industry as we move away from fossil fuels and towards a clean energy economy. We expect that his environmental values will inform his future work as a Senator as strongly as they have his past work as the state’s Attorney General.
In their endorsement, the Connecticut Sierra Club lists several areas where Blumenthal exhibited environmental leadership as Attorney General including: protecting the Long Island Sound by opposing Broadwater Energy’s proposed liquefied natural gas plant and the Islander East Pipeline, bringing numerous lawsuits to prevent illegal dumping of hazardous waste, and ensuring that states funds dedicated to clean energy projects are not diverted for other uses. On the campaign trail, Blumenthal has pledged to “fight to ensure that the United States leads in the global green marketplace.”
McMahon, in sharp contrast, has expressed uncertainty about the role humans have played in climate change, attacked Blumenthal for supporting the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which is the comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation passed by the House in 2009, and has called for eliminating the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.
On her website, McMahon writes, “I oppose cap-and-trade legislation because it will increase energy costs… multiple studies report that a CO2 reduction would cost an average household $455-5,000 a year.”
And on Facebook she writes that ACES was an attempt “to force through an energy tax that would destroy on average 13,649 jobs in CT and raise electricity prices by $927.55 per household.” None of these claims is true. According to the nonpartisan experts at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), ACES would cost “about $175 per household” annually; a number which “does not include the economic benefits and other benefits of the reduction of [greenhouse gas] emissions.” CBO also found that low-income households would see a “net benefit of about $40” per year. Furthermore, researchers from the University of Illinois, Yale University, and the University of California found that ACES could potentially create as many as 16,000 new jobs in Connecticut.
The NRDC Action Fund believes that it is important for the public in general, and for the voters of specific states, to be aware of this information as they weigh their choices for November.