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What Was Said About Energy During the VP Debate

Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: what JD Vance and Tim Walz had to say about energy on the debate stage.

JD Vance and Tim Walz Discuss Energy and Climate During VP Debate

Credit: CBS News

Last night Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz squared off for the sole VP debate of the 2024 election cycle. While much of the discussion included populist messaging from both camps, it was more civil and cordial than many expected (Midwestern Nice, some say). Importantly, energy issues and policies were present in the debate. Let’s dive into what both candidates said.

Early in the debate, CBS News' Norah O'Donnell asked Vance about Hurricane Helene and its ties to climate change. Vance responded by saying:

“Look, a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns. I think it's important for us, first of all, to say Donald Trump and I support clean air, clean water. We want the environment to be cleaner and safer, but one of the things that I've noticed some of our democratic friends talking a lot about is a concern about carbon emissions. This idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change…Let's just say that's true. Well, if you believe that, what would you, what would you want to do? The answer is that you'd want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible and you'd want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world. What have Kamala Harris's policies actually led to? More energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas, more doing business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world. When I say that, I mean the amount of carbon emissions they're doing per unit of economic output. So if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people.”

Putting aside the link between hurricanes and climate change—scientists generally think that climate change is likely hurricanes more intense, not necessarily more frequent—Vance is correct in saying that increasing American energy production is the best way to reduce global emissions. Fossil fuels meet more than 80 percent of the world’s energy needs, a figure that is unlikely to change as more countries develop and rise up the economic ladder. While renewables and nuclear can and should play a larger role, the world is going to need more energy not less. America can either increase production of oil and LNG, which is 40 percent cleaner than Russian natural gas, or allow the world to turn to dirtier energy sources.

Walz responded to the question by saying that climate change is real, before defending the Biden administration’s energy policies:

We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any time than we ever have. We're also producing more clean energy. So the solution for us is to continue to move forward, that climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical. But this is not a false choice. You can do that at the same time you're creating the jobs that we're seeing all across the country. That's exactly what this administration has done. We are seeing us becoming an energy superpower for the future, not just the current.

Walz is correct is saying that the U.S. is producing more traditional and renewable energy than ever before. However, America’s rise as a fossil fuel leader has less to do with President Biden’s policies than some would lead you to believe (as explained in the fact-check of the presidential debate in September).

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