Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has banked her presidential campaign on the idea that voters want a more moderate approach in a Democratic Party moving rapidly left, and her CNN town hall on climate change fit that mold neatly.
While she called for “sweeping legislation” that would include major investments in clean energy development and infrastructure — part of a climate plan she released over the weekend — she hedged on nuclear energy, the future of natural gas and the role of dietary guidelines in combating climate change. She turned several times to one of her refrains: “I think you have to be honest with people” about what is possible.
Ms. Klobuchar said she supported some form of carbon pricing but did not say how such a plan would be structured, because “I’d want to see who we have in Congress and how far we can move.”
Asked why Americans should trust her to take on the beef and dairy industries, which have huge carbon footprints, when she represents an agricultural state, Ms. Klobuchar pivoted away from the premise of “taking on” those industries.
The next president ought to work with farmers and figure out “how we can make them part of the solution,” she said, suggesting financial incentives to encourage farmers to plant cover crops and switch to agricultural practices that require less water.
“I am hopeful that we can do this in a way, when I’m president, where we can continue to have hamburgers and cheese,” she said.
Pressed on whether she would change federal dietary guidelines to encourage less meat and dairy consumption, as Senator Kamala Harris of California suggested earlier in the night, Ms. Klobuchar equivocated, saying she would “do what the science tells us” but would much rather take different steps, such as setting stronger energy efficiency standards for new buildings.
She also reiterated her commitment to natural gas as a “transitional fuel,” not as good as renewable sources but better than coal. Pressed on fracking — which, unlike some other Democratic candidates, she doesn’t want to ban — she said, “In my first 100 days, I will review every fracking permit there is and decide which ones should be allowed to be continued and which ones are too dangerous.”
Eventually, she added, carbon pricing would make natural gas less economically attractive anyway.
The climate plan Ms. Klobuchar released on Sunday would restore Obama-era policies like the Clean Power Plan and gas mileage standards. It also calls for legislation to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.