Gary Johnson - Energy and the Environment
Summary
Governor Johnson has made statements that indicate that he believes in man-made global warming. However, he does not support cap-and-trade legislation and believes that it's affects are grossly overstated. He has also stated that he supports a free market approach to energy and opposes ethanol subsidies.
Libertarian Campaign Event
In February of 2010, Governor Johnson was speaking to a group of libertarian activits in a campaign event that took place prior to his official announcement. He states that for arguments sake, global warming is real and man-made. The amount of money spent to deal with it is not realistic.
For argument’s sake, global warming is happening, it’s man-caused. That given, I think the effects of it are grossly exaggerated and I think the amount of money we’re looking to spend on it is grossly, grossly misguided.”
Our America Initiative
Governor Johnson began the Our America Initiative in early 2011. On that website, he talks about the need for clean air, but states that he opposes cap-and-trade legislation.
Environment
America needs to be a land with a clean environment. We support clean-air and clean-water action and believe in conservationism. The Initiative does not support “cap and trade” policies as they are currently formulated.
Campaign Announcement
Governor Johnson made his announcement speech for the 2012 Presidency in April of 2011. He stated that he opposes the cap-and-trade plans and supports free market approaches to energy.
New Hampshire Debate
Governor Johnson was not invited to participate in the Presidential debate held in New Hampshire. However, he did answer each of those questions in a video. He spoke about the need for coal power and his opposition to subsidies.
As Governor of the State of New Mexico, I think businesses went to sleep knowing that they weren’t going to have needless regulation or fees piled on to the business they conducted. As a result of that, there was certainty in New Mexico.
As an example, right now, the coal industry. We’re not building any new coal fired plants because of the uncertainty over carbon emissions. Eliminate that uncertainty and I think that you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of jobs, just in being able to build coal fired electrical generation facilities.
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I support abolishing ethanol tax subsidies. To my knowledge, it takes more energy to produce ethanol than what it produces. And if that’s not the case, then it ought to be able to stand on its own two feet in a free market system…