***NOTE - This is not the BofA Ken Lewis - for more info visit www.kenlewisforsenate.com***
Throughout the Democratic primary in North Carolina, we have been given a number of questionnaires to complete from organizations across the state. While most of them never make it out into the general public, we felt it would be a good idea to share Ken's responses to these questionnaires with you.
We want everyone to know what it is Ken is saying on these key issues.
With that in mind, here are Ken's answers to his Sierra Club questionnaire.
- What has been your greatest environmental achievement?
Compared to the sustained and vital work that the Sierra Club and many other groups are performing, I can't claim a great environmental achievement.
I can, however, make a commitment: no member of the US Senate will be a stronger voice on issues related to environmental protection, a lower-carbon economy, green jobs, and sustainable, renewable, and alternative energy than I will be.
I spent summers and holidays on a family farm in rural Person County. My family had lived off the land for generations. There I learned to respect the earth and people's dependence on it.
Growing up in Winston-Salem, our family's favorite recreational activity was exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains. For me these were informative experiences. They grounded me, and taught me at an early age that the natural world and the life systems dependent on it are vast and important. I have tried to instill in my children this same sense of natural wonder, and I want to leave them with a pristine environment, functioning ecosystems, and a habitable, healthy planet.
I always carry those formative experiences with me, and they will be the foundation for my advocacy of environmental issues in the US Senate.
My wife Holly and I are supporters of SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces), a Durham urban gardening project. We have recycled as far back as I can remember. And my small business, a small Raleigh and Durham law firm, followed every environmentally-friendly practice available to us.
As a lawyer, I have chosen my clients carefully. They have included the state of North Carolina in the issuance of clean water bonds, and a high-tech entrepreneur whose start-up company is working on technology to purify water using light rather than chemicals.
I have done what I could to act upon the lessons I learned when I was young, and to work toward the world I want to leave to my children. IN the US Senate I will continue to advance my strong environmental beliefs, and work for a healthy planet nationally and on a global scale.
- If elected, how will you provide environmental leadership and on what issues will you focus your efforts?
I have made a central theme of my campaign my belief that we are on the threshold of a new revolution based on alternative energy, clean and green technologies, new materials and processes, and a low-carbon response to global warming. This revolution holds the promise not only of protecting our planet but of delivering clean, high-paying jobs. I will work to put North Carolina and the United States in the global forefront of this revolution.
I support a new research and development tax credit to encourage companies to innovate in these fields. I support new policies to make technology transfer from basic research to business application easier and faster.
I believe the new economic boom will be powered in significant part by socially responsible companies that perform well financially and are also responsible stakeholders in their communities, treating their employees well and protecting the planet. As these "triple bottom line" companies (profits, people, planet) look for corporate homes around the world, we can successfully compete for thousands of good new jobs by making our business climate friendlier to firms committed to the triple bottom line.
Therefore I propose providing sustainability tax credits for firms that commit to, and achieve, triple bottom line milestones, such as reducing carbon emissions by a specified amount and adopting sustainable environmental management systems such as ISO 14000.
When I get to the Senate, one of the most important ways I will lead on environmental issues will be to consistently explain to the public that protecting the planet from the disaster of global warming, strengthening our country's national security, creating a new generation of jobs, and sustaining our economic strength are all related.
In the Senate, I will work for a lower-carbon economy. I will work to replace foreign oil with sustainable, renewable domestic sources of energy. And I will work to make the United States the global leader in the clean energy industries of the future. My answers to your questions below spell out in detail the specific legislation I will support to accomplish these objectives.
- Would you support a science-based cap on global warming pollution and other actions to cut carbon emissions at least 80% by 2050? Will you support a strong regulatory framework to ensure that these reduction targets are met? (SENATE: Will you vote to ratify a fair international climate treaty if the Administration negotiates a deal in Copenhagen?)
Yes, I support the 80% reduction by 2050. I also support the strong regulatory framework necessary to enforce it. I am disappointed that a treaty was not achieved in Copenhagen, but in my campaign and in the Senate I will continue to push hard for an agreement. As I said above, these major reductions in carbon emissions are necessary not only to combat global warming but also to cut our dependence on foreign oil and to maintain the US an economic leader in the future.
- Would you support directing revenues from carbon permits toward public benefits such as creating clean energy jobs, minimizing impacts on low income communities and ensuring the development of clean energy technologies rather than windfall profits for polluters? Will you support funding for international mitigation and adaptation?
Absolutely. The wording in your question mirrors the points I make repeatedly as I campaign across North Carolina: integral to moving decisively toward a lower-carbon economy is the creation of clean energy jobs, protecting lower-income communities, and developing new clean energy technologies. Built into any system of carbon reduction or cap and trade must be a strong and clear commitment to these public benefits, as opposed to windfall profits for polluters or distractions which delay the accomplishment of our environmental, economic, and energy objectives.
I strongly support funding for international mitigation and adaptation. The effects of global warming will fall most heavily on the world's poorest peoples, and our country has a responsibility to play a leadership role in helping them cope with the effects of climate change.
- Would you support a national Renewable Electricity Standard of 25% by 2025
Yes.
- Would you support legislation to increase electric energy efficiency 15% by 2020 and natural gas energy efficiency 10% by 2020? Will you support and promote energy efficient appliance and lighting standards, tax incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy? Which policies will you make priorities?
Yes, with lighting and appliance standards being the first priority. I also support the establishment of a national energy grid using the latest "smart grid" technology.
- Would you support actions to require that all power plants, including those powered by coal, be cleaned up, and establish emission limits at least equivalent to levels achieved by the cleanest such plants (combined cycle natural gas)? Will you support legislation to require new plants meet stringent carbon standards from the day they open, and that old plants be brought up to this standard when they have been operating for 50 years?
Yes.
- Would you oppose federal subsidies for power plants that do not actually capture and sequester at least 85% of their carbon emissions?
Yes. In addition, I will push for a broad-based review of energy-related corporate subsidies in general, to make sure taxpayers aren't subsidizing practices that actually undercut our ability to achieve our energy and environmental objectives.
- Would you support a low carbon fuel standard to reduce the carbon-intensity of transportation fuels by 15% below 2005 levels and other policies to prevent increased use of dirty fuels, including those derived from tar sands, oil shale or liquid coal?
Here, as is the case with every potential solution you discuss in this questionnaire, I strongly support the efforts of the environmental community to get the job done. I do recognize the technical difficulty of including the necessary "life-cycle" analysis, which considers the carbon used in producing the technology itself, in the assessment of the carbon intensity of fuels. One thing you don't mention, which we can implement right away, is a series of higher CAFE standards. Currently, US CAFE standards are lower than they are in China.
- Would you support legislation that will set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from travel through directing a greater percentage of transportation dollars toward transportation options such as rail, transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure? Would you support policies that promote smart, integrated land use and development and repair existing infrastructure before building new roads?
Yes.
- Would you support legislation that requires increased fuel efficiency and stringent greenhouse gas standards for new cars and trucks?
Yes.
- Would you favor having the Congress restore protection for such bodies of water as headwaters streams, wetlands, and prairie potholes, so that the Clean Water Act protects the same waters as it did when Congress passed it in 1972?
Yes.
- Would you support legislation that protects streams and waterways from coal-mining waste?
Yes.
- Would you support legislation to restore the Superfund’s polluter-pays funding mechanism?
Yes.
- Would you vote against any bills or amendments authorizing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, new drilling in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf previously protected by a Congressional moratorium, or other threatened wild lands on shore? And for the Arctic Refuge, would you support designating the coastal plain as a wilderness area?
Yes.
- Would you support legislation to permanently protect wilderness and wild forests, including roadless areas, in order to help mitigate the impacts of global warming, preserve recreational opportunities, and conserve fish and wildlife habitat?
Yes.
- The migrations of caribou, pronghorn, mule deer and other big game are at risk of being lost due to climate change and poorly planned development. Would you support legislation to establish and preserve corridors for wildlife migration to protect these natural treasures and the economies that depend on them?
Yes.
- Would you support a funding increase for international/domestic family planning and comprehensive sexuality education programs? Why or why not?
Yes.
- Would you support efforts to ensure that industries integral to our nation's manufacturing base are not put at a competitive disadvantage while we strive to reduce global warming pollution and grow our clean energy economy?
The wording of this question is confusing. As I've emphasized, I believe we must enact bold climate change legislation quickly, move aggressively toward a lower-carbon economy, and rapidly expand clean energy jobs. These objectives go hand-in-hand. US policy must encourage other nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, and China, to significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, not enable inefficient US industries to postpone modernizing. More and more, job creation in the US should be, and will be, green job creation.
Final thought.
You didn't raise this subject, but I support efforts by the Obama Administration to implement and expand a national system of marine protected areas (modeled on the examples of California and Oregon) that will include substantial marine reserves. The health of the blue economy is central to the economic health of our country and especially of coastal states like North Carolina.