Gary Johnson talks carbon emissions at NH presidential debate (Video)

Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico and Libertarian style Republican presidential candidate, touched upon the subject of global warming while responding to a question at the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC Presidential Debate held on November 10, 2011 in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Transcript of Johnson's remarks on carbon emissions: 

Now here’s where the unconstitutional aspect of the President of the United States lies -- is rules and regulations.

The notion that carbon emissions -- that carbon is a pollutant – this is a rule. This is an administrative rule in lieu of law. 

Video of Johnson's comments is available on YouTube, with the carbon portion starting at 5:30:

Gary Johnson talks global warming in Dover, NH

Foster's Daily Democrat reports that 2012 Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson discussed global warming during a recent campaign stop at La Festa, a local pizza restaurant in Dover, NH.

"There is global warming," Johnson reportedly told voters. "It's man-caused."

He also expressed support for clean energy, but warned the U.S. should not abandon coal or oil.

Click here to read the full article.

Gary Johnson on coal and carbon emissions

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was among the Republican presidential candidates excluded from last week’s CNN debate in Manchester, NH.

In this YouTube video, Johnson responds to the all of the questions posed to fellow candidates during the June 13, 2011 Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, sounding off on coal fired power plants, space exploration, food safety, the ethanol tax credit and, strangely, the long-term threat posed by the sun.

Gary Johnson on coal fired power plants

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.

Gary Johnson on the future of space exploration

I don’t want to trivialize this response, but long-term – and by long term I mean over the course of millions and billions of years – the sun is going to get closer to the Earth and at a point the Earth will not be inhabitable. So the long-term survival of the human race depends on us being able to go to other planets, to actually inhabit other planets.

So in that context, but given the budgetary consequence, I’m believing that government needs to be cut by 43 percent, because that’s the amount of money we’re borrowing and printing for every dollar that we’re spending. In that context, the space program at this point needs to be reduced by 43 percent.

Gary Johnson on food safety

Look, things happen in this world and when it comes to food safety, we’re going to have incidents of food safety. We’re going to have incidents where people get sick or die from food in the system.

That the FDA, that we spend millions and millions and millions of dollars on the FDA, the notion that they are going to prevent these kinds of things from happening across the board. I think that’s government. That’s the fear that we have, that if we don’t spend money on these issues that we’re going to have these issues. And the reality is that we do have these issues.

Government should be setting standards. Government should be providing an oversight or enforcement for those companies that would be bad actors in this environment. But so much of what happens isn’t bad acting. It’s genuinely accidents that do occur. So the notion of adding more money is not going to do away with these problems in the future.

Gary Johnson on the ethanol tax

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…

Gary Johnson moderates view on cap and trade

Gary Johnson is not just the latest Republican to jump into the presidential race. He's also a self described "avid skier". So when I heard about Johnson's plan to ski Mount Washington's Tuckerman Ravine, I figured it would be a good opportunity to make him aware of threat global warming poses to New Hampshire's ski industry.

I posted a story on Gather.com highlighting the fact that a number of local ski mountains have signed on to letters urging Congress to pass federal cap and trade legislation. You can imagine my surprise when Johnson shared a link to the story on his official Facebook page. I guess the man listens to voters!

Now Johnson is showing his independence from the Republican Party establishment by opening the doors to real bipartisan conversation on cap and trade.

"I don't believe in cap and trade," he said in a video posted on his Our America Initiative just two weeks ago.

The video has since been removed and replaced with more conciliatory language:

"The Initiative does not support 'cap and trade' policies as they are currently formulated."

It's certainly not a total about face, but it shows Johnson is willing to engage in an open minded conversation about the issue. In this day and age, that's something every voter should look for in a candidate.

2012 Hopeful Gary Johnson to Ski Tuckerman Ravine (Video)

Last week, I posted a piece about former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson's plan to ski Mount Washington's Tuckerman Ravine in April:

2012 Hopeful Gary Johnson to Ski Tuckerman Ravine

Johnson has shared a link to the story on Facebook, along with the following comment:

At the end of this month I'll be skiing Tuckerman Ravine in New Hampshire for the first time. As many of you know I am an avid skier and I'm really looking forward to the challenge!

He may be an avid skier, but Johnson does not see eye to eye with a number of local ski mountains on the issue of climate change, as noted in my article for Gather.com. In 2008, Cranmore Mountain, Gunstock Mountain, Loon Mountain, and Waterville Valley signed onto a letter urging Congress to pass bipartisan cap and trade legislation.

"I don't believe in cap and trade," Johnson states in this video: