Huckabee Presidential Forum: Newt Gingrich on climate change

Newt Gingrich discussed his views on climate change and cap and trade at the Huckabee Presidential Forum, which aired on Fox News on December 3, 2011:

Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia Attorney General: Mr. Speaker, you speak passionately about first principles and small government -- smaller government – yet you’ve supported individual mandates for health insurance, joined Nancy Pelosi with respect to climate change, advocated for a significant role for the federal government in education, and had close ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Why should limited government conservatives like me trust that a President Gingrich will not advance these sorts of big government approaches when you are President?

Newt Gingrich: …I’ve said publicly, sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi is the dumbest single thing I’ve done in the last few years.

But if you notice, I never favored cap and trade. 

In fact, I actively testified against it. 

I was at the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee the same day Al Gore was there to testify for it. 

I testified against it. 

And through American Solutions we actively fought it in the Senate. 

And I think we played a major role in defeating it.

The former House Speaker and 2012 Republican presidential candidate also reiterated his desire to eliminate the EPA as we know it today:

Scott Pruit, Oklahoma Attorney General: President Obama seems to think Washington has all the answers to our national problems, but as you know all national problems don’t require national solutions.

Can you name some national problems that neither the President nor Congress should solve?

Newt Gingrich: … I want to develop an Environmental Solutions Agency to replace the EPA with an agency which has to have economic rationality, has to look for innovation and entrepreneurship, and has to collaborate rather than dictate to state and local governments. 

Later in the evening, Newt Gingrich answered a follow up question about his 2006 television ad with Nancy Pelosi:

Scott Pruit: Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up a little bit on the appearance with Nancy Pelosi.

Newt Gingrich: Yes.

Scott Pruit: … and climate change. You’ve said and you said earlier this evening that was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.

Newt Gingrich: Well, in recent years. I don’t want to run my whole career through it. 

Scott Pruit: Was it done because it was bad politics or done because it was bad policy?

Newt Gingrich: Well, first of all what I said there I think was accurate, which was that you need innovation and you need to look at positive ways of solving things.

I was trying to make a case about a conservative environmentalism, which is the reason I am for an Environmental Solutions Agency to replace the EPA.

It was largely done because, frankly, she became so radioactive that it was impossible for any conservative to be in the same set and not have everybody go, “That’s crazy!” and so they never heard your message.

I wrote a book with Terry Maple called Contract with the Earth and it was an effort to argue that there were sound, promarket science and technology innovations that would lead to a better environment, actually a more improved environment than you get out of lawyers and regulators and the EPA. 

Watch full video of the Huckabee Presidential Forum below. Newt Gingrich's remarks on climate change start at 2:41; on the EPA at 6:30; follow up question on Nancy Pelosi ad at 10:10.

Newt Gingrich Talks Energy in New Hampshire (Video)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was back in New Hampshire on Monday, where he shared views on cellulosic biofuels and oil drilling in North Dakota with local talk show host Al Kulas. Watch a video of their conversation below (the energy part starts at the 4:00 mark):

Al: “You mentioned in your talk that in Iowa unemployment was 2% because everybody was drilling oil…”

Newt: “No, no, no… in North Korea… North Dakota…”

Al: “Did some of the farmers realize that rather than wasting the value of their land growing corn for ethanol, they should take the corn out of it and drill for oil?”

Newt: “Actually, I think the part of North Dakota that produces oil is winter wheat country, but the farmers out there seem pretty darn happy with the amount of royalties that they’re getting out of the wells that are being drilled now…”

Al: “If I said, ‘Corn is food. Soy beans should be used for ethanol,’ what would you say?”

Newt: “Well, I think there are new technologies that allow you to use corn stalks and corn husks and other things. I am in favor of developing some biofuels and I think it can be done in a way that doesn’t affect the cost of food at all.”

For the record, North Dakota does have the lowest unemployment rate in the nation – 3.7% as of February 2011. However, chalking the state’s economic success up to oil alone is kind of like saying soy beans aren't food. 

Not surprisingly, the American Petroleum Institute (API) claims that oil and natural gas support 27,914 jobs in the Peace Garden State. API admits this figure includes the number of food service jobs supported by the industries' employees. So if an oil field worker in North Dakota buys a Big Mac, API takes credit for the burger flipper's job. Unless Big Oil  hired a small army of statisticians to follow employees to lunch, this sounds like fuzzy math. There is also little evidence to suggest that oil field workers would stop buying Big Macs if they changed jobs and started putting up wind turbines.

Newt's comments got me thinking about green jobs in North Dokata. It turns out the state is already home to 137 clean energy businesses and 2,112 clean energy jobs, according to a groundbreaking Pew Charitable Trust report. Pew researches didn’t just camp out at McDonald’s. They actually went out and counted the number of jobs created by companies doing the work of building America's clean energy future.

It is nice to see Newt Gingrich taking a break from the "Drill baby Drill" mentality of the Republican Party establishment. Seems like just yesterday that Newt was busy co-starring in “We can solve it” TV ads with Democrat Nancy Pelosi:



“We do agree our country must take action to solve climate change,” he said in this 2008 video, Nancy Pelosi at his side.

What happened? 

One explanation is that the former Speaker of the House underwent a sudden change of heart as soon as a Democrat landed in the White House. Another explanation is that Newt is simply reacting to the propaganda being pumped out of Big Oil funded think tanks in Washington. 

In 2009, researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that federal cap and trade legislation could create up to 4,000 new jobs in North Dakota. The idea was so terrifying to Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobile and Koch Industries that they quickly whipped up some statistics of their own. “Beware cap-and-trade” read the headline of a piece published in the Bismark Tribune in 2010. The article warned that enactment of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) could kill 5,000 to 7,000 jobs in North Dakota alone, while also jacking up the price of gasoline 24%, electricity 64%, and natural gas 77%. 

Where do these terrifying numbers come from?

They come from a report compiled by the America Council for Capital Formation, a Washington, D.C. based 501(c)(3) funded in part by Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobile and Koch Industries. Exxon alone has donated $1,674,523 to the group since 1998. Koch kicked in another $215,000 from 2005 to 2008.

Big Oil's misinformation campaign could not have been better timed. ACES had just become the first piece of federal climate legislation to make it out of the House of Representatives and was awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate - a vote that would never come.  

With these kinds of numbers flying around, you can't blame ol' Newt for backing down on his support for clean energy solutions to climate change. In 2012, it will be up to the voters to let politicians know that "We the People" still support bipartisan solutions to the climate crisis that create green jobs and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

Newt Gingrich Presidential Exploratory Committee

Rumors that Newt Gingrich will announce soon his candidacy for president are greatly overblown. Instead, the former House Speaker is expected to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee at today's event in Washington, D.C.

Last November, Gingrich told Meet the Press that he would reach a decision on whether or not to run for president in 2012 by February or March of this year. His decision to launch a presidential exploratory committee is a sure sign that he is still testing the waters. It could be months before Gingrich formally announces his candidacy, if he decides to run at all.

Fellow Republicans Herman Cain and Fred Karger beat him to the punch by announcing presidential exploratory committees months ago. Chances are that Newt Gingrich won't go on to become the first Republican to officially announce his/her candidacy for president in 2012 either.

Newt Gingrich is scheduled to visit New Hampshire on March 17. He will be the guest speaker at the Wild Irish Breakfast in Nashua on March 17, 2011.

 

Photo of Newt Gingrich at CPAC 2012 by Gage Skidmore

CPAC 2011: Newt Gingrich Video

Former Speaker of the House and potential 2012 Republican candidate for president Newt Gingrich addressed the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. Full video of his speech can found below:

Newt Gingrich plans visits to Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire

The road to the Republican presidential nomination will run straight through Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in 2012, three early voting states that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich plans to visit in early 2011. Last November, Gingrich told USA Today that he'd make a decision about his own plans for 2012 sometime in February or March.

On January 13th, Gingrich will speak to Grand Stand Business Association in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Details

On January 25th, Gingrich plans to speak at the Iowa Renewable Fuel Association's annual summit in Des Moines, Iowa. Details

On March 17, Gingrich will be the featured special guest at the PLUS Co. annual Wild Irish Breakfast in Nashua, New Hampshire. Details