Download Endorsement Meeting with the Sierra Club Political Team

MEMORANDUM FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Date:
Friday, March 18, 2016
Time:
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Mid-Town Office
New York, NY
From:
Jared Mueller (Chief of Staff, Political Team)
RE:
Endorsement Meeting with the Sierra Club Political Team
I. PURPOSE
YOU are meeting with the Sierra Club’s Political Team (SCPT) as part of Sierra’s
endorsement process. The Sierra Club initially requested this meeting in January,
in parallel with the campaign’s submission of YOUR responses to Sierra’s
endorsement questionnaire. Senator Sanders also responded to Sierra’s
questionnaire; Sanders interviewed with the SCPT this past Tuesday, March 15th.
The SCPT is split: several members each support YOU and Senator Sanders. An
ally on the SCPT has said that he believes mid-March—after YOUR March 15th
victories—is the best opening for YOU to pursue an early Sierra endorsement.
II. PARTICIPANTS
● YOU
● Aaron Mair, President, Sierra Club; Board Member
● Ken Brame, Political Team Co-Chair, Sierra Club
● Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club
● Khalid Pitts, Political Director, Sierra Club
● Robin Mann, VP for Conservation, Sierra Club; Board Member
● Melinda Pierce, Legislative Director, Sierra Club
Joining by Phone
● Sarah Burton, National PAC Director, Sierra Club
● Sarah Hogdon, National Program Director, Sierra Club
● Joseph Manning, Student Chapter Representative, Sierra Club
Staff
● Kristina Costa, Policy Advisor, Hillary for America
● Jared Mueller, Political Chief of Staff, Hillary for America
III. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
12:00 pm
YOU arrive and are greeted by six members of the Sierra Club’s
Political Team, facilitated by Michael Brune
YOU take a seat
12:05 pm
Michael Brune welcomes and introduces YOU
12:10 pm
YOU deliver a brief opening remarks (5-7 minutes)
12:15 pm
YOU participate in a Q&A session with the Sierra Club Political
Team, facilitated by Michael Brune
12:55 pm
YOU deliver brief closing remarks (3-5 minutes)
1:00 pm
YOU depart
IV. PRESS PLAN
This event is CLOSED PRESS.
V. BACKGROUND
Endorsement Process
In order for the Sierra Club to endorse, there are three votes that must take place:
● The Sierra Club Political Team (SCPT) must endorse a candidate with a
two-thirds majority to send an endorsement recommendation to the Board
● The Sierra Club Board must then also vote to make a presidential candidate
endorsement — independent of who the candidate is — with a 51% vote
● After the Board votes to make a presidential endorsement, a candidate must
garner the support of two-thirds of Board members to be formally endorsed
The Sierra Club’s Board may vote to endorse a candidate as early as next week,
following the SCPT’s meetings with YOU and Senator Sanders this week.
Historically, Sierra has refrained from endorsing a presidential candidate until a
presumptive Democratic nominee has emerged. In 2008, Sierra endorsed thenSenator Obama in late June, only after YOU suspended YOUR campaign. This
year, Sierra’s leadership hopes to endorse a candidate in early spring, so that the
political impact of their endorsement is greater than it has been in past elections.
Several Sierra Club senior staffers, SCPT members, and Sierra board members
want the Club to endorse YOU; other Sierra leaders are in the Sanders camp. A
vocal group of Sierra members has begun lobbying online for an endorsement of
Sanders, through a petition with more than 7,000 signers. Based on a listening tour
he conducted last winter, Sierra Political Director Khalid Pitts believes his
grassroots membership largely supports Sanders. The Sanders campaign has also
made winning Sierra’s endorsement a strategic priority. Sanders has reportedly
courted Aaron Mair, Sierra’s Board President—the leading Sanders supporter on
both the SCPT and the Board—through in-person meetings and other outreach.
Given this dynamic, our internal Sierra allies report that YOUR main goal during
the interview should be to establish a personal rapport with the six Political Team
members present. If the Sierra Club endorses YOU, its leadership will receive
significant blowback from pro-Sanders rank-and-file members. Our goal is for the
SCPT members to leave the meeting excited, with a sense of connection—and a
vision of future partnership—with the next President of the United States.
History
The Sierra Club — founded in 1892 by conservationist John Muir — works to
lobby state and federal government to support green legislation, secure protections
for public lands and waters, and expand access to the outdoors for all Americans.
Today, the Sierra Club is America’s largest grassroots environmental organization,
comprising 64 local chapters and 2.4 million grassroots members.
The Sierra Club now pursues a broad range of environmental and conservation
goals, including mitigating global warming by transitioning to a clean energy
economy, building a diverse and inclusive environmental movement, and
promoting eco-conscious tourism and trade. Over the last half century, the Sierra
Club has played a major role in gaining support for federal environmental
protection measures, including the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the
Clean Water Act, the Wilderness Act, and the National Forest Management Act, as
well as the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National
Park Service, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Political advocacy — and
litigation — on the part of the Sierra Club has also helped protect public lands
across the United States (including Redwood National Park, Yosemite National
Park, and Yellowstone National Park, among others) from development.
Messaging and General TPs
The SCPT is “dedicated to electing clean air, clean water, and climate action
champions at all levels of government.” YOU should thank the Sierra Club for
their leadership and environmental stewardship, express YOUR desire to work
with them for YOUR shared goal of reiterate YOUR commitment to fighting
climate change and building a green America, and lean into YOUR core clean
energy and climate action message. YOU have stated:
“In spite of the strongest possible scientific consensus about what climate
change means for our environment, economy, health, and future, there are still
some who deny the facts. They’re intent on obstructing progress. We can’t let
them win this fight. We have no choice. There is no Planet B.”
While the Sierra Club is perhaps best been known for its protection of public lands
across the U.S. and its hand in the bedrock environmental legislation passed over
the past half-century, Sierra has declared climate change “the top challenge facing
humanity” and its top priority today. In the words of Sierra Club Executive
Director Michael Brune, “we want to do for clean energy what John Muir did for
wilderness preservation more than a century ago.” In particular, the Sierra Club
has participated in the movement against fracking, lobbied and mobilized its
grassroots supporters to retire coal plants, helped to organize the largest
demonstration against climate change in U.S. history, and worked to get
communities to embrace solar and wind energy as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Nonetheless, the Sierra Club remains committed to its roots, and expanding access
to the environment by supporting programs and policies that cut across economic,
cultural, and community lines forms a key part of the Sierra Club’s agenda. YOU
should reiterate YOUR commitment to breaking down barriers for all Americans,
which includes ensuring communities across the country have equal opportunities
to enjoy our natural resources. In this context, YOU should also reiterate YOUR
understanding of the important links between environmental health and social
justice. YOU should cite YOUR response to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, as
an example of how as President YOU will ensure that these issues are addressed at
all levels of government.
NOTE:
● The Sierra Club strongly opposes the use of fracking. To limit the damage
from fracking until it can be ended entirely, Sierra calls for “prompt closure
of loopholes that effectively exempt fracking from important aspects of
major environmental laws.”
● The Sierra Club is also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency
around the TPP and the deal’s environmental implications, including:
(1) the “extreme secrecy” around which the TPP negotiations took place,
and what they perceive as corporations’ outsized influence over the
negotiations; (2) “insufficient” protections in the TPP’s environment
chapter, especially with regard to illegal timber and wildlife trade; (3) the
grant of “unfettered rights to corporations” to sue governments over profitreducing laws and policies, including “common-sense” environmental
regulation; and (4) the increase in “dirty fracking” likely to result from
increased exports of liquefied natural gas.
YOUR History with Sierra Club
● In July 2015, the Sierra Club released a statement welcoming YOUR plan to
fight the climate crisis and grow the clean energy economy to 33 percent of
the nation’s energy mix by 2027, enough to power every home in America:
○ “The Sierra Club and our 2.4 million members and supporters welcome
Hillary Clinton’s strong plan for accelerating our nation’s clean energy
growth to fight the climate crisis . . . Americans want climate action and
strongly prefer clean energy over fossil fuels. We’re pleased that Sen.
Clinton has taken note by prioritizing clean energy growth.”
○ Around the release of YOUR climate plan, Sierra’s Executive Director
Michael Brune told Politico, “We’re expecting a reset [of YOUR
platform] and a completely different climate and energy policy than the
last time she ran for president.” Brune added that YOUR plan to raise
renewables’ share of the U.S. energy supply “is a positive first step…
but we’re looking for her to reconcile her climate and energy policies,
which is something Obama has not yet been able to do effectively.”
● In the 2008 election cycle, the Sierra Club endorsed then-Senator Obama on
June 19, 2008 — shortly after YOU announced that YOU were suspending
YOUR campaign for president.
● In the 2000 election cycle, the Sierra Club endorsed YOU over YOUR
opponent Rick Lazio, stating that YOU “showed an unequaled depth of
knowledge on a plethora of state and national issues,” and that despite
YOUR lack of legislative record at the time, YOUR attention over the years
to children and health issues indicated that YOU would be a powerful ally
for environmentalists.
Attachments:
1 – Biographies
2 – Policy Background
3 – Sierra Club Questionnaire
4 – Recent Press and Press Releases
5 – Talking Points
BIOGRAPHIES
Aaron Mair
President, Sierra Club; Board Member
Aaron Mair was elected president of the Sierra Club on May
16, 2016. Originally an epidemiological-spatial analyst with
the New York State Department of Health, Mair brings more
than 30 years of environmental activism to his position. Mair
is the Sierra Club’s first African American president. Mair
first became a Sierra Club member in 1999, after leading a decade-long battle to
shut down a polluting solid waste incinerator in an inner-city community in
Albany, NY. Mair’s efforts ultimately led to a shutdown of the facility and a
settlement of $1.6 million awarded to the community. Mair also helped lead the
fight and secure the Sierra Club’s activism in the Clean Up the Hudson campaign,
which resulted in a settlement between the EPA and General Electric to dredge
toxic waste from the Upper Hudson River. Throughout his tenure with the Sierra
Club, Mair has demonstrated a commitment to transforming the culture of the
Sierra Club to make it, in his words, “a more welcoming environment to all people,
regardless of their race or socioeconomic status.”
● Mair is a vocal supporter of Senator Sanders among Sierra’s leadership and
is one of the key audiences for this presentation
● Although Mair supports Sanders, if there is a push to endorse YOU he may
provide the pivotal vote in favor of (or against) making an endorsement; he
shares the Sierra leadership’s goal of endorsing “early” for relevance reasons
● Mair is a friend of Rhea Jezer, a member of YOUR New York Leadership
Council who is active in the Sierra Club; Jezer helped secure YOUR 2000
endorsement by the New York Sierra Club when she served as its then-chair
Michael Brune
Executive Director, Sierra Club
Michael Brune accepted his role as Executive Director of the
Sierra Club in March 2010. One month later, BP’s
Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded,
killing 11 workers and sending millions of gallons of oil into
the ocean. Brune directly led more than 2,000 Sierra Club
members and friends who volunteered for the cleanup. Brune’s first environmental
job was as an organizer for Greenpeace. In 1998, Brune joined Rainforest Action
Network (RAN), where he ultimately served for seven years as executive director.
While at RAN, Brune wrote Coming Clean: Breaking America's Addiction to Oil
and Coal, which addresses climate disruption and lays out an ambitious plan for
moving America to a clean-energy economy. Brune grew up in Chadwick Beach,
NJ, and went to school in nearby Toms River. He graduated from West Chester
University of Pennsylvania with B.S. degrees in Economics and Finance. Brune
and his wife, Mary, the co-founder of the group MOMS (Making Our Milk Safe),
live in Alameda, CA. They have three children.
● Brune privately supports YOU, and has a relationship with John Podesta and
several of YOUR environmental policy advisors
Ken Brame
National Political Team Co-Chair, Sierra Club
Currently the Co-Chair of the Sierra Club’s National Political
Team, Ken Brame has a long history of involvement with
Sierra’s North Carolina chapter where he previously served as
Chair of the North Carolina Political Team and Vice Chair of
the North Carolina Chapter. Brame was a member of the
National Political Team, serving as Chair for the 1999-2000 election cycle. He
served on Sierra’s Environmental Voter Education Committee from 2002 to 2006
and joined the National Political Team in 2007. Ken and his wife, Judy, reside
outside Asheville, N.C., and enjoy hiking the mountain trails in Western North
Carolina.
● Brame reportedly is a swing voter on the SCPT; as its volunteer vice chair,
he is one of the most influential voices in Sierra’s endorsement process
● Our allies at Sierra report that Brame’s top priority is ensuring any
endorsement decision is in Sierra’s institutional interest, and that the Board
will be able to “sell” the endorsement to its membership
Khalid Pitts
National Political Director, Sierra Club
The Sierra Club recruited Khalid Pitts to serve as the National
Political Director in June 2015. Pitts has over two decades of
experience managing political and legislative campaigns,
building coalitions, and organizing national and state-level
grassroots advocacy efforts. His political experience includes
work as Board Chair and President of USAction and USAction Education Fund;
Senior Partner at Democracy Partners; Director of Strategic Campaigns for the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU); State Director for the Coalition to
Stop Gun Violence; and Virginia State Director for Dick Gephardt for President.
In 2014, he also sought an at-large D.C. City Council seat. Pitts and his wife
Diane have two children and own the Cork Wine Bar and Cork Market and Tasting
Room in downtown Washington, D.C.
● Pitts privately supports YOU, and has a friendly relationship with Robby
Mook and several members of YOUR campaign team
Robin Mann
Vice President for Conservation, Sierra Club; Board Member
Robin Mann is in her second term as Vice President of the
Sierra Club. She initially held the post from 2007 to 2010.
Mann has been a member of the Sierra Club since 1983 and
has held multiple leadership positions with the organization,
including a term as President of the Sierra Club from 2010 to
2012. She has also served on the Finance Team, Climate Movement Task Force,
Chapter-National Joint Planning Team, Water Committee, and Chapter Wetlands
Committee. She currently resides in Rosemont, PA.
Melinda Pierce
Chief Lobbyist and Legislative Director, Sierra Club
Melinda Pierce has served as the Chief Lobbyist and
Legislative Director for the Sierra Club since 2000. She
organizes legislative and administrative advocacy campaigns
to support the Sierra Club’s climate, clean air, clean water
and clean energy, and public lands protection agendas. Pierce
has waged political battles against big oil companies to protect the Arctic Refuge
and other public lands from oil development, and she is currently focused on clean
air and clean energy advocacy. Pierce has repeatedly been named one of The Hill
newspaper’s top lobbyists. She is an avid outdoorswoman and spends much of her
free time outside with her family. Pierce earned her Bachelor’s degree from
Brown University in Political Science and Government in 1988.
Joining By Phone
Sarah Hodgdon
National Program Director, Sierra Club
Sarah Hodgdon oversees the Sierra Club’s national
campaigns, including Beyond Coal, Beyond Oil, and Our
Wild America. She also manages the Sierra Club’s political
programs, outing programs, labor partnerships, environmental
justice partnerships, and youth groups. To accomplish
campaign and programmatic goals, Sarah manages the Sierra Club’s teams of
lobbyists, organizers, and lawyers. She leads the staff diversity team and serves on
the founding body of the Building Equity and Alignment (BEA) Initiative, which
works to create a more inclusive, connective, and winning environmental
movement. In 2012, Diversity Journal named Sarah “A Woman Worth Watching”
for her leadership role at the Sierra Club. Before joining the Sierra Club, Sarah was
Executive Director of Dogwood Alliance, a North Carolina-based forest-protection
organization. She began her grassroots-organizing career with Green Corps and is
one of four Green Corps graduates to have received the David Brower Alumni
Achievement Award. Sarah has a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature
from Indiana University and a Certificate from Indiana University’s School of
Public and Environmental Affairs.
Sarah Burton
National PAC Director, Sierra Club
Sarah Burton joined the Sierra Club as the National PAC
Director in the fall of 2015. Prior to her work with the Sierra
Club, Burton served as the Planning Director and Political
Capacity Compliance and Campaign Coordinator for the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Joseph Manning
Student Chapter Representative for National Political Team,
Sierra Club
As a leader in the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC), Joseph
Manning was tasked with bringing together diverse
constituencies to strategize a course of action to engage
school campuses and coordinate the university chapters of the
Sierra Club. Previously, as the Secretary of the Council of Club Leaders, he
worked with delegates from every chapter to recruit new youth members and to
keep the next generation from growing up with even more severe climate change.
He graduated from Boston College in 2014 and has a master’s from Columbia.
Staff
Jared Mueller
Chief of Staff, Political Team, Hillary For America
Before joining the campaign, Jared helped run Charlie Crist’s
2014 gubernatorial race in Florida, managing the analytics,
budget, operations, and policy portfolios for the campaign, as
well as the post-election wind-down process. He had
previously worked on the 2013 Presidential Inaugural
Committee and managed the $135 million field budget for President Obama's reelection campaign. Before working in Democratic politics, Jared worked as a
management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He is from Portland,
Oregon, and graduated from Duke University.
MEMORANDUM FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Date:
March 16, 2016
From:
Policy Team
RE:
Sierra Club Meeting
I. OVERVIEW
We believe there is a good chance YOU can earn the endorsement of the Sierra
Club, whose leadership is currently divided. In addition to their central issues of
environmental protection and combating climate change, the Sierra Club has been
allied with labor unions in strong opposition to the TPP. They will be looking for
YOU to express strong opposition to the TPP and to speak specifically to the issues
YOU find concerning in the deal.
They will also ask political questions about how YOU will bring Sanders
supporters back into the fold following the primary, and how YOU would intend to
defeat Trump in the general election. They will also likely ask YOU about fossil
fuel donations to YOUR campaign. Suggested responses to all of these issues are
in Section III of this memo.
II. POLICY AREAS OF CONCERN TO SIERRA CLUB AND ITS
MEMBERS
1. Climate Change and Clean Energy
Like other national environmental organizations, combating climate change and
supporting clean energy are top priorities for the Sierra Club. They are primarily
focused on U.S. action but in their questionnaire led with an international frame
asking how YOU would meet the U.S. commitment under the Paris Agreement to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. We
suggest YOU address this by focusing on the following:
1. Making climate change personal to YOU: We believe that more important
than detailing specific proposals is to communicate how important climate
change is to YOU personally. We suggest doing this by speaking to the
impacts of climate change you personally witnessed as Secretary of State
(meeting with the leaders of small island states threatened by sea level rise,
traveling to drought-stricken countries in Africa, etc.) and within the U.S.
(e.g. Hurricane Sandy in New York, speaking to Mayor Levine of Miami
Beach about sea level rise) and highlighting YOUR commitment to protect
the low-income communities and communities of color that are most at
risk.
2. Defending President Obama’s gains from Republican attack: We have
made important progress in combating climate change over the past seven
years. U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at their lowest level in two
decades, wind generation has grown three fold, solar has grown thirty-fold.
Our cars and trucks are cleaner and more efficient than ever, reducing oil
consumption and saving drivers money. Job number one is defending these
gains by combatting Republican attempts to undermine the Clean Power
Plan (CPP), fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, building codes and
appliance standards.
3. Meeting our commitments without relying on climate deniers in Congress:
While defending President Obama’s achievements is critical, it’s not
sufficient to meet our Paris commitments. With current policy alone we are
not on track to meet these targets, let alone our long-term goal of at least an
80% reduction by 2050. We can and must do more. That’s why as
President YOU will set the following goals on your first day in office and
will achieve them within 10 years.



Generate enough renewable energy to power every home in
America, with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of
YOUR first term.
Cut energy waste in American homes, schools, hospitals and
offices by a third and make American manufacturing the cleanest
and most efficient in the world.
Reduce American oil consumption by a third through cleaner fuels
and more efficient cars, boilers, ships and trucks.
Unlike Senator Sanders, whose plan depends on passing comprehensive
climate legislation in Congress, YOU believe this is too important to wait
for climate deniers on the Hill to stop listening to the Koch brothers and get
with the program. That’s why YOU will achieve these goals, and our 2025
international commitment, though a combination of existing federal
authorities like the Clean Air Act and your $60 billion Clean Energy
Challenge that provides competitive grants to states, cities and rural
communities that take the lead and exceed federal standards.
4. The importance of a just transition: While Sierra Club has an aggressive
legal campaign to shut down all coal fired power plants in the country, they
have been very supportive of YOUR plan to revitalize coal communities.
They are opposed, however, to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
which YOUR plan supports, because they prefer a 100% renewable energy
future (they are also opposed to natural gas and nuclear). They may have
seen YOUR letter to Senator Manchin and may have concerns about
YOUR reiteration of support for CCS. If pressed on CCS, we suggest YOU
say that the coal community leaders YOU have met with want to see if it’s
possible to make CCS commercially viable so coal can play a role in a lowcarbon future. YOU believe it’s important we give them that chance.
Climate change is too important to take any technology off the table if it
can help us meet our emission reduction goals.
2. Environmental Justice
Sierra has been working with the NAACP to raise awareness of the water crisis in
Flint and broader environmental justice concerns. While Senator Sanders also
spoke out about Flint, YOU have much more credibility and a longer history of
working in this space. YOUR environmental justice plan has not yet been released,
but we recommend YOU emphasize your long history on these issues, from
working with Carol Browner on air pollution and child asthma as First Lady, to
holding the first-ever Senate hearing exclusively on environmental justice as
Senator, to launching the Clean Cookstoves Initiative as Secretary of State, as well
as being the first candidate to speak out about the water crisis in Flint and the only
candidate to launch a forceful response.
Points to emphasize:
 YOU will make environmental justice a central goal of your administration.
President Clinton signed the first federal executive order on environmental
justice, and YOU held the first Senate hearing on the topic, in addition to
introducing multiple pieces of legislation particularly aimed at reducing
childhood lead exposure. YOU recognize environmental justice and climate
justice need to be elevated and emphasized in order to break down all the
barriers holding Americans back.
 YOU know there are more Flints out there. As part of YOUR forthcoming
environmental justice plan, YOU will set a goal of eradicating lead as a
public health threat from paint, soil, and pipes within 5 years through
increased federal funding, increasing penalties for negligent landlords,
working with the philanthropic sector, investing in water infrastructure, and
improving federal-state-local coordination and cooperation on drinking
water treatment. YOUR team has developed this goal in cooperation with
the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, which has worked for decades to
reduce childhood lead exposure.
 YOU won’t leave communities out or behind in the fight against climate
change. The poorest Americans stand to lose the most from climate change.
Communities of color in particular face challenges from “energy poverty,”
where degrading housing stock leads to higher energy bills for heating and
electricity. YOUR Clean Energy Challenge will reward cities, states, and
rural communities that cut red tape and promote access to rooftop solar,
community solar, and energy efficiency programs for low-income families.
3. Conservation
YOU have just released a “Collaborative Stewardship” plan for public lands and
waters and wildlife. Sen. Sanders has not been active in this policy space, and it is
something that Sierra Club cares deeply about. We recommend that YOU highlight
that YOU are the one with a smart and ambitious environmental and conservation
plan.
Points to emphasize:
 Keep public lands public: With Republicans and special interests escalating
their efforts to privatize public lands, now more than ever we need a leader
in the White House who understands how to win this fight and has a clear
plan for how to ensure that our national treasures remain treasures for all
Americans – both today, and for future generations.
 YOUR plan will double the size of the outdoor economy in 10 years: YOU
reject the Republican argument that we have to sell off our public land for
the sake of economic opportunity. Our outdoor economy already generates
some $700 billion of economic activity annually – and you have set a goal
of doubling that in ten years.
 YOU will establish an American Parks Trust Fund: This new fund will
replace, modernize, and scale up to roughly double the Land and Water
Conservation Fund. This fund will, among other things, address the $11
billion dollar maintenance backlog that plague the parks today.
 YOU will cut in half the amount of public land that is currently cut off or
inaccessible: Too much public land is off-limits to the public because it is
ring-fenced in by private land or other barriers. Your plan will open
millions of acres to hunters, anglers, and outdoors enthusiasts.

YOU will launch an initiative to rehabilitate more than 3000 parks in urban
areas in ten years: This will help to ensure that kids and families
everywhere and across the full socio-economic spectrum can use and enjoy
them. Sierra Club does important work in this space, and would be a
valuable partner in this effort.
 YOU will ensure America’s national parks, memorials, and monuments tell
the story of all Americans: This means both increasing the diversity of the
workforce itself and ensuring that the stories of communities of color,
women, and LGBT Americans are better told and commemorated.
 YOU will make public lands part of the climate solution. You have said you
will maintain the President’s moratorium on new coal-leases on public
lands while you reform the leasing process to eliminate fossil subsidies and
efforts by companies to game the system. In addition, you will make public
lands engines of our clean energy economy through a ten-fold increase in
renewable energy production on public lands and waters within ten years.
4. Natural Gas/Fracking
YOUR support for natural gas as a bridge to a clean energy economy has attracted
criticism from a number of environmental groups. Sierra Club opposes all natural
gas production, and gas produced through fracking (which now accounts for nearly
half of the U.S. total) in particular. In their view, there is no such thing as “safe
fracking.” Sen. Sanders has sought to draw a contrast with YOU on fracking in
particular by calling for a comprehensive ban. Given how important this issue is
with our labor allies, we recommend YOU acknowledge this is an area of
disagreement, if raised, and make the case for why YOU believe that with the right
safeguards in place, natural gas can play an important role in the transition to a
clean energy economy:
1. Reducing carbon pollution: U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at their
lowest level in two decades thanks both to Sierra Club’s hard work and a
switch from coal to natural gas. That put the U.S. on a strong footing in
the Paris climate talks.
2. Improving air quality: The switch from coal to natural gas in the power
sector since 2008 has significantly improved local air quality and the
health of the most pollution-impacted communities, avoiding thousands of
premature deaths and more than 100,000 asthma attacks in 2015 alone.
3. Energy costs: Using natural gas as a transition fuel can help keep energy
costs low and US manufacturing competitive as we make the clean energy
transition on track to a more than 80% reduction in emissions by 2050.
We recommend YOU highlight the specific safeguards YOU have proposed, which
unlike Sen. Sanders’ fracking ban, are legally and politically achievable and would
move far beyond what the Obama Administration has proposed:
1. Reduce methane emissions through regulations on new and existing
sources: Reducing fugitive methane emissions from natural gas
production and transportation is a major policy priority for the Sierra
Club. Last year the Obama Administration announced draft regulations to
limit fugitive methane emissions from new oil and gas sources. YOU have
called for regulations on existing sources as well using existing authorities
under the Clean Air Act to achieve a 40-45% reduction in oil and gas
methane emissions below 2005 levels by 2025.
2. Close the “Halliburton loophole” and require mandatory disclosure for
fracking fluids: We recommend YOU highlight two areas where you
would improve federal water safeguards as it relates to hydraulic
fracturing: a) closing the “Halliburton Loophole” that restricts EPA from
regulating fracking fluid injection under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and
b) requiring companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in
fracking.
3. Address risk of earthquakes: There is growing concern surrounding
earthquakes caused by injecting waste-water from fracking into
underground aquifers. We recommend YOU highlight this as an area that
needs additional federal attention.
Under YOUR plan, if fracking can’t be with these safeguards in place, it shouldn’t
be done at all. And YOU have called for defending the rights of states and local
communities to say no to fracking, which Sierra Club will like to hear.
5. Fossil Fuel Production on Public Lands
Sierra Club has called for halting all fossil fuel leasing on public lands and Sen.
Sanders has introduced legislation that would do exactly that (though it has no
chance of passage). Over the course of this campaign, YOU have come out against
offshore drilling in the Atlantic and the Arctic, both of which were seen as big
victories by Sierra Club and are positions the Obama Administration has since at
least partially adopted. YOU have also supported President Obama’s decision to
pause new coal leases on public lands pending a review of the federal coal leasing
program.
Where YOU differ from Sen. Sanders and the Sierra Club is that you have not
called for a permanent moratorium on coal leasing or a ban on onshore oil and gas
or Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leasing. Instead YOUR plan calls for reforming
those leasing programs to close loopholes and raise royalty rates so taxpayers get a
fair deal, and to make new leasing decisions in light of our long term clean energy
and climate goals.
There may be some confusion regarding YOUR position among some Sierra Club
members following an answer YOU gave to a climate activist on a ropeline in New
Hampshire that has been interpreted by some as supporting an immediate
moratorium on all coal, oil and gas production on public lands. Such a move is
unfeasible and unnecessary to meet our climate goals, and the campaign has since
clarified that YOU were referring to support for President Obama’s pause of the
coal leasing program specifically.
6. Energy infrastructure
To the extent that oil and gas infrastructure other than Keystone XL is raised, we
recommend YOU avoid expressing an opinion on any specific pipeline, as our
labor allies see these as important sources of work for their members and have
asked we avoid weighing in on individual pipeline debates. Instead, we suggest
YOU share YOUR views on the need for a comprehensive plan to modernizing
North American energy infrastructure to build a clean energy future, including
through:
1. Pipeline safety: Old natural gas pipelines are a significant source of
fugitive methane emissions, so we recommend YOU highlight your plan
to repair or replace thousands of miles of old and outdated pipeline
infrastructure, as well as improve national pipeline safety regulations to
prevent disastrous oil spills like occurred in the Kalamazoo River in
Michigan.
2. Rail safety: The environmental community has become increasingly
focused on rail safety given the amount of crude oil now being shipped by
rail. We recommend YOU preview your plans to accelerate tank car
replacement, repair track defects, and ensure first responders and the
public have information about the oil moving through their communities.
3. North American Climate Compact: You would launch negotiations with
Canada and Mexico on a comprehensive and ambitious North American
Climate Compact (NACC) that will slash carbon pollution and methane
emissions across the continent and ensure that the new energy
infrastructure we build is consistent with the clean energy economy we
need to create. The recent agreement between President Trudeau and
President Obama creates a good foundation for the NACC.
III. Q&A
POLITICAL
TPP: Why do YOU oppose the TPP deal? Would YOU seek to renegotiate it?
 As soon as TPP was finally concluded, I came out against it. I didn’t wait. I
made my position clear. I did think it was important to know what was in
the agreement before taking a position—because that’s what you have to do
as President.
 So I called out the deal for being too weak on currency manipulation and for
putting the interests of drug companies in front of those of consumers. And I
stood with my friend Sherrod Brown, one of the deal's staunchest opponents,
and agreed with him on his key priority. I said that the deal's “rules of
origin” standards for automobiles are too weak. We can't give China a
gaping back-door to preferential treatment. That’s not right.
 I’m not interested in tinkering around the margins of our trade policy. I
think we need a fundamental rethink of how we approach trade deals going
forward – and it can’t just be about the words of the deal. It has to be about
the investments we make in our workers here in the U.S.
FOSSIL FUEL DONATIONS: Why have YOU not refused donations from
fossil fuel interests the way YOU have from private prisons?
 I’m glad you asked that question, because I think there’s been a lot of
misinformation out there. I asked my team to crunch the numbers, and
donations from employees of fossil fuel companies make up less than onetenth of one percent of the donations to my campaign.
 I’m not soliciting donations from oil and gas interests. A small number of
people who work for these companies have donated to my campaign.
 We are actively seeking to develop a donor base among clean energy
companies and environmental organizations. I’ve held a number of
fundraisers with clean energy interests and will continue to do so.
 The fact is, we know why the Koch brothers have pledged to spend $900
million to try to put a Republican in the White House—because they know
I’m no friend of fossil fuel interests.
SANDERS SUPPORTERS: How could the Sierra Club ‘sell’ an endorsement
of YOU over Sanders to members?
 We need a President who will be ambitious and creative in making America
the clean energy superpower of the 21st century and leading the global fight
against climate change. That’s what I will do. We need to not just build on
the progress President Obama has made, but accelerate it, and I will do that
starting from day one. I will use the substantial existing authorities available
to the President to continue to drive down greenhouse gas emissions
economy-wide—and I’ll do it by working collaboratively with states, with
cities and rural communities, with organizations like the Sierra Club, and
where appropriate with the private sector.
 Ultimately, I think that’s how we’ll change the tone of the discussion in
Congress. Not by hanging all our hopes on passing big new legislation. But
by supporting the growing number of cities, states, and rural communities,
and the leaders from both parties, who are recognizing that they need to take
action. States like Oregon where they just passed some of the most
ambitious clean energy legislation in the country. Rural co-ops in places like
Colorado coal country and Wisconsin, where they’re investing in solar
power. Mayors and county executives in South Florida who are doing
everything they can to build more resilient infrastructure. I want to support
those efforts and encourage more local leaders to go further, and to have
them put pressure on Congress to start changing their tune.
VIABILITY IN GENERAL: How will YOU seek to defeat Donald Trump in
the general election?
 Well, I’m very proud that I’m actually the only candidate in this race who
has gotten more votes than Donald Trump. And I’ve done that by building a
broad-based, diverse coalition and a really inclusive campaign. That’s the
kind of coalition I’ll bring to the general election to make the case that this
really is the highest-stakes election any of us has ever been involved in.
 And I think there will be a compelling case to be made that not only would
Donald Trump be terrible for our economy, terrible for immigrants, terrible
for women, terrible for our environment, but he’d do serious damage to
America’s position in the world if he became President. And I think I am the
best able to make that case to the American people.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Q: What is YOUR plan for meeting the US commitment under the Paris
Agreement to reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025?
 First, I am very proud of what President Obama and his team achieved in
Paris. It was the result of years sustained diplomatic and domestic policy
action and wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of groups like
the Sierra Club.
 I will fight to defend the progress we have made, particularly President
Obama’s Clean Power Plan which has been stayed by the Supreme Court and
is under constant Republican attack.
 But current policies alone won’t be enough to meet our Paris commitment. We
can and must go further.
 That’s why as President I will set the following bold national goals, which we
will achieve within ten years of my first day in office and which will reduce
US emission by up to 30% below 2005 levels by 2025 – easily meeting our
Paris commitment:
o Generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America,
with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of my first term.
o Cut energy waste in American homes, schools, hospitals and offices by
a third and make American manufacturing the cleanest and most
efficient in the world.
o Reduce American oil consumption by a third through cleaner fuels and
more efficient cars, boilers, ships and trucks.
 I believe combatting climate change and meeting our international
commitments is too important to wait for climate deniers in Congress to stop
listening to the Koch Brothers and get with the program. That’s why my plan
relies on existing federal authorities, particularly those under the Clean Air
Act, and a $60 billion Clean Energy Challenge that awards competitive grants
to states, cities and rural communities across the country that are ready to lead
on clean energy and efficiency.
 And I will continue America’s diplomatic leadership abroad. I was proud to
appoint Todd Stern, the first Special Envoy for Climate Change, when I was
Secretary of State and made climate a centerpiece of the US-China relationship
in my first few months on the job. That kind of diplomatic foundation is what
makes deals like the one we achieved in Paris possible.
Q: Are YOU willing to commit to a 100% renewable energy future like
Senator Sanders has?
 First, I believe the next decade will be critical in our transition to a clean
energy economy, so that’s what my focus has been. Within that time, I want
one third of all our electricity to come from renewable energy, enough to
power every home in the country.
 Over the long term, I’m more concerned with how we most effectively reduce
emissions to levels scientists tell us is required – more than 80% by 2050 here
in the U.S. - than the specific technology that gets us there.
 If renewable energy proves the most cost effective way to meet our climate
goals – that’s great. If advanced nuclear power or carbon capture and
sequestration can compete – I’m all for it.
 But I think climate change is just too important to pre-emptively take any
emission reducing option off the table.
Q: Why do YOU support fracking?
 I know this is a controversial issue, and one on which we may disagree. So let
me lay out my view.
 I believe we need to do everything we can to protect groundwater and reduce
methane emissions. I have a plan to do that:
o First, we need to reduce methane emissions by 40-45% by 2025. As you
know President Obama has only proposed regulations for existing
sources, which is a small share of the total problem. I will use the Clean
Air Act to regulate existing sources as well. I will also repair and
replace thousands of miles of leaky pipes by the end of my first term.
o Second, we need to protect local water supplies by requiring companies
disclose all the chemicals they use and by closing the Halliburton
loophole so EPA can put effective safeguards in place.
o Third, we need to make sure that waste water injection is not occurring
in places with seismic risk. The recent spike in earthquakes in
Oklahoma is particularly troubling.
 Now if those risks can't be addressed then fracking should not occur. And as
President I will protect the right of states and local communities that decide
they don’t want it in their backyard.
 But a comprehensive ban is not only a complete non-starter in the Congress, I
don’t believe its good policy. The switch to natural gas has helped drive U.S.
emissions to their lowest level in two decades. We need to keep going and
deploying more renewables, and in the meantime we need to get methane
emissions under control as quickly as possible.
Q: In New Hampshire YOU told a climate activist that YOU support a
moratorium on all fossil fuel production on public lands. Is that correct?
 I was referring specifically to President Obama’s decision to put a hold on
new coal leases while the program is reviewed. I support that decision and
will see the review through to completion. I believe we need to be moving
toward phasing down fossil fuel production on public lands, starting with the
dirtiest sources.
 As you know, I have come out in opposition to offshore drilling both in the
Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean. I was relieved to see President Obama’s
recent decision to withdraw new Atlantic leases and hope he will do the right
thing and permanently protect the Arctic.
 I have also called for reforming our onshore leasing program to close
loopholes and raise royalty rates so taxpayers get a fair deal for energy
production on public lands and believe that new leasing decisions need to be
made with our long-term climate goals in mind.
Q: Will YOU continue subsidizing gas, coal, and oil? How will YOU eliminate
fossil fuel subsidies?
 I strongly support ending wasteful fossil fuel subsidies, including the
billions of dollars of oil subsidies that US taxpayers are saddled with every
year and other giveaways.
 I also will fight to ensure that Americans are getting a fair deal on any fossil
fuel production on public lands, including by raising royalties for onshore
production and closing loopholes. Companies that produce fossil fuels on
public lands have to pay their fair share to the federal government.
Taxpayers deserve nothing less.
 And the fight cannot stop at home – fossil fuel subsidies are a global
challenge that tilt the playing field against clean energy and divert public
resources from pressing economic and development priorities.
Q: Did YOU support lifting the current ban on crude oil exports?
 As you know, that decision was made as part of a broader legislative deal at
the end of last year.
 No deal is perfect, but I’m happy that Senate Democrats and President
Obama were successful in winning a multiyear extension of wind and solar
tax credits that will help drive deployment of these technologies until the
Clean Power Plan begins.
 In light of the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the Clean Power Plan, this
has proved particularly important.
SIERRA CLUB QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Presidential Candidate:
The Sierra Club is America's largest and most effective grassroots environmental
organization with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide. For
more than 25 years, our members have worked to elect leaders who will protect the
planet and our neighborhoods, who will conserve wild lands and open spaces for
people and wildlife. Today, with the looming threat of climate disruption, our
members are looking to support candidates who will put our nation on a path to
100% clean energy by reducing carbon pollution and advancing clean energy
technologies.
Our nation needs strong leadership in the fight against climate disruption. The
science is irrefutable -- the damage to our planet and our economy is palpably real.
We can turn the corner on climate disruption, but only if America’s elected leaders
take bold action now to put the country on a path to meet or exceed the carbon
reductions of 50% by 2030 that science demands. Those actions should include:
● Aggressive policies to reduce carbon pollution and hold fossil fuel polluters
accountable for their pollution
● Investments and incentives for clean energy
● Keeping dirty fuels in the ground
● Investment in green transportation options
● Fulfilling the unmet demand for family planning
● Ensuring that trade agreements do not undermine our ability to address
climate change
● Making sure that climate solutions are just and protect our most vulnerable
communities
Poll after poll has demonstrated that voters across the country – regardless of
demographics or political persuasion – share these values. They believe we do not
have to choose between a clean environment and a strong economy. Voters are
looking to their elected representatives to provide leadership that will secure good
jobs for America’s workers and a healthy environment with clean air, clean water
and wild places for this and future generations.
If you are interested in Sierra Club’s endorsement, I invite you to complete the
attached Sierra Club 2016 Presidential Questionnaire. Moreover, we would
request an opportunity to interview you. Please return the completed copy to the
National Political Team ([email protected] or Sierra Club, 50 F Street NW,
8th Floor, Washington, DC 20001).
Sincerely,
Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club 2016 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire
The questions below represent some of the diverse environmental issues that the
members and supporters of the Sierra Club consider a priority. Your responses will
be considered confidential and will NOT be posted online or released to the public.
They will only be seen by key Sierra Club volunteer leaders and staff. For any
additional information on the issues raised below please feel free to reference
Sierra Club’s website, www.sierraclub.org.
QUESTIONS
Continuing International Climate Leadership
Our nation needs strong leadership in the fight against climate disruption, which
represents the greatest environmental challenge of this century. Science demands
that we take bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by
2030.
1) If elected, will you direct your administration to deliver on the
international commitments that the United States put forward in Paris?
Yes. The reality of climate change is unforgiving. Sea levels are rising. Ice
caps are melting. Storms, wildfires, and extreme weather are wreaking havoc
at home and around the world. I’ve seen firsthand the damage that climate
change inflicts on our communities, our public health, our economy, and our
national security.
Simply put, this is one of the most urgent threats of our time, and we have
no choice but to rise and meet it. But I also firmly believe that American
ingenuity, entrepreneurialism, and leadership are fully up to the task, both
domestically and internationally.
That’s why fighting climate change and building America into a clean
energy superpower will be top priorities for me from Day 1 of my
presidency. This means that I will fight to defend the important progress we
have made to date, including by defending and fully implementing the Clean
Power Plan, fuel economy standards, building codes and appliance standards
and other smart standards that the Obama administration is putting in place.
But we can and must go further. Simply defending the gains made under the
Obama administration will not be enough to fulfill our Paris commitment of
a 26-28% reduction in US emissions by 2025, or put our economy on a
pathway to deep decarbonization by 2050.
That’s why in July I announced that as President I will set two ambitious
renewable goals:
First, by the end of my first term, we will have half of a billion installed
solar panels across the country. That’s a 700% increase from 2014 levels and
the equivalent of having rooftop solar systems installed on 25 million
homes.
Second, the United States will generate enough renewable electricity within
10 years of my taking office to power every home in America. This
translates into 33% of US electricity coming from renewable sources.
But we need more than goals – we need a concrete strategy for how to
achieve them that doesn’t depend on Republican climate deniers and
defeatists in Congress passing comprehensive climate legislation. Here’s
mine: defend and fully implement the Clean Power Plan (which, if done
right, can increase renewables from 14% of electricity production today to as
much as 25% by 2027) and then launch a $60 billion national Clean Energy
Challenge which will spur states, cities and rural communities ready to lead
on clean energy to exceed federal pollution standards. Through this new
partnership we will cut carbon pollution, protect the air we breathe, create
jobs, and expand renewable energy to account for 33% of electricity supply.
I will also use this same combination of smart federal standards and a Clean
Energy Challenge for states, cities, and rural communities that exceed them
to accelerate clean energy deployment and energy efficiency improvements
beyond the electric power sector, reducing carbon pollution by up to 30%
below 2005 levels by 2025 and putting the US on track to reduce emissions
by more than 80% by 2050.
For instance, I recently announced a goal to cut energy waste in American
homes, schools, stores, municipal buildings, hospitals and offices by a third
within ten years of taking office. In achieving this goal we will slash carbon
pollution, reduce annual energy costs for American households and
businesses by more than $70 billion, or $600 per household, and eliminate
the use of expensive and highly polluting fuel oil to heat homes and
businesses.
In the weeks ahead I will be releasing my plan for reducing American oil
consumption and resulting carbon pollution by a third within ten years of
taking office by making our cars, trucks, ships and airplanes more efficient,
expanding public transit, and accelerating the deployment of low-carbon
fuels. My clean transportation plan will also improving access to good jobs
and schools, cut congestion and commute times and reduce air pollution that
disproportionately impacts low income communities and communities of
color. I will also be releasing my plan for making American manufacturing
cleaner, more efficient and more internationally competitive and how to
attract and retain new clean energy manufacturing jobs here in the US.
A key part of my plan for meeting the climate pledge the United States made
in Paris is to reduce methane emissions from both new and existing sources.
That’s why in September I launched a comprehensive plan for modernizing
our energy infrastructure, including repairing and replacing thousands of
miles of leaky pipelines. As part of this plan, I will forge a North American
Climate Compact that ensures the infrastructure we build is consistent with
the clean energy economy we need to create and that would include
ambitious and coordinated methane reduction policies from the US, Mexico,
and Canada.
I am also eager to realize the full potential of the international climate
agreement achieved in Paris. This will require taking immediate action at
home to leave no doubt that the United States will honor its commitments to
reduce its own greenhouse gas pollution and to mobilize the necessary
financing to help poorer developing countries meet the climate challenge.
But it will also require intense and skillful diplomatic engagement to ensure
that the whole world shifts decisively toward clean energy – and I will draw
on my experience as Secretary of State to ensure that this happens. As
Secretary, I fought hard to mobilize a global response to climate change. I
created the highest-level post at the State Department dedicated exclusively
to climate diplomacy (the US Special Envoy for Climate Change); I put
climate squarely on the agenda in my first trip to China as Secretary; I
worked to feature climate change in the annual US-China Strategic and
Economic Dialogue meeting; and I helped secure the first international
agreement in which all of the major economies (including China) committed
to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution and included vital new
commitments on climate finance. In addition, I built new coalitions to
combat emissions from methane, pushed for phasing down the use of superpolluting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) through the Montreal Protocol, and
launched a clean cookstove initiative that delivers not only health but
climate benefits.
We have made enormous progress since 2009 in meeting the climate
challenge at home and abroad, but our gains are not secure and there is still
much further that we have to go.
Under your tenure, you will be called upon to put forward the next U.S. Intended
Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) for 2030.
2) Will you put forward an ambitious target for the United States?
Yes. As President I will put forward an ambitious 2030 INDC consistent
with a pathway that achieves a greater than 80% reduction in emissions by
2050.
As part of its international climate commitment, the Obama Administration put
forward a goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector 40 – 45 %
from 2012 levels by 2025. Achieving this commitment will require administrative
action to regulate existing sources of methane pollution, a critical step that the
current administration has not yet taken.
3) Will you use your executive authority to reign in methane pollution,
including directing and empowering the Environmental Protection
Agency to regulate existing sources of methane emissions from the oil
and gas industry?
Yes. Reducing methane from oil and gas systems from both new and
existing sources is critical to meeting the United States’ 2025 target. In
addition to new regulations from the EPA, I would work with states and
cities to repair thousands of miles of leaky pipes and negotiate a North
American Climate Compact that drives methane emission reductions across
the continent.
Protecting Communities
Protecting our communities requires not only action to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, but also continued progress to limit other sources of air and water
pollution. Our communities should be safe, healthy places to live and raise children
- with clean air and water free from the dangers of toxic pollution - but fossil fuel
pollution threatens public health. For example, each year, coal pollution causes
12,000 emergency room visits and $100 billion in health costs. Half of the families
in our country live in places with unsafe air. In the United States, 1 out of 10
children suffers from asthma, and recent studies show that coal-burning power
plants are the number one source of water pollution in America. This air and water
pollution disproportionately impacts our nation’s poorest families and communities
of color. For example, Latinos, Blacks, Asians and Pacific Islanders are more
likely to live in areas where air pollution exceeds national standards. We must hold
polluters accountable and ensure that, as we do, the solutions put forward are both
strong and just and fully address the needs of these communities.
4) Will you direct and empower the EPA to use its authority under the
Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other longstanding and proven
safeguards to issue standards that hold fossil fuel polluters accountable
and protect public health, safety, and the environment? Additionally,
will you ensure that these safeguards fully consider the cumulative
impacts faced by overburdened communities?
Yes. Defending and fully implementing the Clean Power Plan is particularly
important. This rule will deliver net climate and health benefits of $55 to
$93 billion per year in 2030, avoiding up to 6,600 premature deaths and
150,000 asthma attacks each year in children. But even with the Clean
Power Plan in place, the public health impacts of fossil fuel combustion will
be far too great. That’s why I will drive even deeper reductions in carbon
and other pollution through other smart federal standards and through my
Clean Energy Challenge.
The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act have been and must continue to
be cornerstones of protecting the air we breathe and water we drink. They
have been instrumental in holding accountable those responsible for harming
the environment, and I will reject any attempts to weaken these safeguards.
It is unacceptable today that any parent should have to worry that their kids'
water isn't safe. Yet, that worry has tragically turned into a reality for the
many residents of Flint, Michigan. Thousands of children may have been
exposed to lead, which could irreversibly harm their health and brain
functioning. We now know that a General Motors factory stopped using
Flint's water because it was corroding car engine parts -- yet officials
continued to reassure the public that the water was safe for human
consumption. That's unconscionable, and I have applauded the Department
of Justice for joining the Environmental Protection Agency in investigating
what happened here.
Moreover, too often these crises impact underserved communities and
communities of color. They are overlooked and their pleas for help are
regularly ignored. As President, they will not be invisible to me. It’s hard
enough for hardworking Americans to make ends meet, they should not, and
when I am president, will not have to choose between putting bottled water
and food on the table.
I will maintain and enforce the meaning of environmental justice through
executive order and hold EPA and other agencies accountable for
implementing it. We need to involve not just environmental officials, but
housing, public health, civil rights, and other experts. In addition, I will
ensure that communities have a stronger role in working with the
government on environmental justice issues. I worked in the Senate to
address specific environmental justice problems, such as introducing the
Family Asthma Act, which would have helped children manage their
asthma, and improve our ability to identify and control the environmental
factors that contribute to asthma attacks; introducing the Healthy, High
Performance Schools Act, which would help school eliminate environmental
hazards that can affect learning like mold and lead; and introducing the
Coordinated Environmental Health Network Act, which would have
connected chronic disease registries with information about pollutants and
other environmental factors in order to increase our understanding of the
relationship between the two.
5) Will you direct relevant agencies to use the full extent of the law to
close loopholes that exempt drilling and fracking operations from basic
environmental protections provided by laws such as the Clean Water
Act and Safe Drinking Water Act?
Yes. It is crucial that we put in place smart regulations and close loopholes,
such as the so-called Halliburton loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act,
that could put our families at risk.
6) Will you direct relevant agencies to use the full extent of the law to
protect streams, waterways and communities in Appalachia and across
the country from coal-mining waste resulting from the practice of
mountaintop removal mining?
Yes.
In addition to pursuing new administrative action to protect our climate,
environment, and communities, it is critical that we implement and adequately
enforce the laws and policies already in place. Over the past several years, the
Environmental Protection Agency has put forward strong standards to protect
public health and regulate pollution but the implementation and enforcement of
these laws is often lacking.
7) Will you support investments in adequate monitoring and
enforcement of environmental laws?
Yes.
Many of the administrative rulemakings promulgated by the EPA under President
Obama have come under fire in the court system, including critical mercury,
carbon, and smog standards as well as the Clean Water Rule defining the
jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.
8) Will you direct the Department of Justice and other Agencies to
defend EPA and other Agency standards that come under fire in the
court system?
Yes.
Transitioning to a Clean Energy Economy
Our nation’s continued reliance on dirty fossil fuel energy not only contributes to
climate disruption but also directly threatens our health and well-being. Our
government leaders must reject an “all of the above” approach to energy
development and instead pursue policies and make investments that will keep
fossil fuels in the ground or under the ocean, and unleash America’s clean energy
potential.
The next Administration must advance a national energy policy that will keep dirty
fuels in the ground, protect communities from the burden of pollution, and forestall
catastrophic climate change. These policies must consider halting new leasing and
development of fossil fuels on public lands, opposing opening new areas offshore
of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to drilling, and consistently applying a climate
test to all major energy infrastructure decisions.
Keeping dirty fuels in the ground has the added benefit of protecting some of the
most wild and spectacular public lands in the nation. American families enjoy a
rich natural heritage of parks, refuges, forests, wilderness and wildlife, but today, a
rush to mine, drill and frack for coal, oil and gas threatens the natural, recreational,
health and cultural values of special places from the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to our public lands and forests across the country and off our coasts.
Developing these dirty fuels would damage valuable wildlife habitat, foul our
waters, harm indigenous communities, and hurt local economies.
9) Will you use executive authority under the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) to limit fossil fuel exports?
As president I will ensure that our trade policy supports, rather than
undermines, our policies to reduce emissions at home and encourage climate
action abroad, whether through international trade agreements or existing
executive authorities including those under the EPCA.
10) Will you use your executive authority to keep fossil fuels like coal, oil
and natural gas in the ground by banning any new oil and gas leasing and
drilling on federal public lands and will you support a ban on new coal
leasing and mining on federal lands?
It’s time we move beyond an “all of the above” approach to energy policy
and focus on meeting the climate change challenge and making the United
States the clean energy superpower of the 21st century – and that includes on
federal lands. As President I will reduce fossil fuel production on federal
lands and significantly expand clean energy production, from wind in
Wyoming to solar in Nevada. I will reform our current leasing program to
ensure taxpayers get a fair deal and that leasing decisions are consistent with
our long term climate objectives. To that end, I support President Obama’s
recent decision for a broad review of the coal leasing program and as
President would see it through to completion.
But it’s equally important that we have a real plan in place to safeguard the
healthcare and retirement security of the coal miners, transportation workers
and power plant operators who have given so much to this country, and to
ensure their communities are not left behind or left out as we transition to a
clean energy economy. That’s why I’ve put forward a $30 billion plan for
revitalizing America’s coal communities. My plan would provide a federal
backstop for retired coal miners, transport workers and power plant
operators that lose their health insurance or pensions due to a company
bankruptcy, reforms the black lung benefits program, and safeguards
funding for coal community schools. It would drive new investment and job
creation into these communities through tax credits, infrastructure
improvements, broadband access, and repurposed mine lands and power
plant sites. And it would support locally-driven economic development and
diversification through the establishment of Coal Communities Challenge
Fund.
11) Would you use your authority to keep new offshore oil and gas
drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans?
As President, given what we know, I will say "no" to offshore oil production
in the Arctic Ocean. In light of our need to transition to a clean energy
economy and meet the climate challenge, it is not worth putting this unique
national treasure the risk. I have also expressed my skepticism about the
need or desire for us to pursue offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. There
are some places where we should keep fossil fuels in the ground or under the
ocean.
Designating and Defending Public Lands
Next year, the National Park Service, often called the best idea America ever had,
celebrates its centennial. Despite the overwhelming popularity of our parks and
public lands, some in Congress want to undermine public land protection statutes
and oppose protecting new areas as wilderness, parks or national monuments.
13) As President, will you use the full suite of your executive powers to
protect America’s public lands by recommending new parks and
wilderness areas and using the authority under Antiquities Act to
safeguard special places as national monuments?
Yes. America has a proud, bipartisan tradition of conserving national parks,
monuments, wilderness lands, and marinescapes for future generations. And
today, we see local communities across the country continuing this tradition
by working to protect places that are integral to their economies and way of
life.
As President, I would support these locally-driven efforts by signing
conservation legislation and, when appropriate, wisely using the Antiquities
Act to permanently protect the lands, waters, and sites that make up our
nation’s proud natural, cultural, and historic treasures. As President, I would
also oppose all attempts by Congress to weaken the Antiquities Act.
President Teddy Roosevelt understood that America’s vast natural bounty
and beauty had to be safeguarded, managed and nurtured, and that if we did
so wisely it would be a source of perpetual strength and wealth for our
nation.
That is as true today as it was then.
If anything, the need to protect our precious landscapes and marinescapes is
made even more urgent because of the stresses posed by climate change. For
instance, we know that our oceans are under unprecedented stresses—from
overfishing to marine pollution to rising temperatures and ocean
acidification. I am proud of the steps that President Obama has taken to
protect our oceans—including withdrawing Bristol Bay in Alaska and nearly
10 million acres of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the Arctic Ocean from
consideration for oil and gas leasing and creating the world’s largest marine
protect area with the expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine
National Monument. As President, I will build on this historic progress to
protect our oceans for future generations.
I have a history of working to protect our public lands. In the Senate, I
fought efforts to drill in places that are just too special or too risky, like the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. I cosponsored the Roadless Area
Conservation Act, which would have prohibited road construction and
logging in unspoiled, roadless areas of the National Forest System, and
voted for additional funding and manpower to combat forest fires in the
West.
Ensuring Trade Deals are Good for Workers and the Environment
Past U.S. free trade agreements have undermined the ability of governments to
protect the environment and address the climate crisis. For example, past
agreements have empowered foreign investors to challenge climate and
environmental policies in private trade tribunals through the controversial investorstate dispute settlement system. The Sierra Club strongly opposes the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP), which would expand ISDS to thousands of new firms and
would pave the way for increased exports of climate-disrupting fossil fuels and
dangerous fracking by requiring the U.S. Department Energy to automatically
approve exports of liquefied natural gas to countries in the pact.
14) Will you renegotiate the TPP to remove these environmental
threats and will you direct your administration to ensure that future
trade agreements do not replicate these flawed rules?
As President, I will ensure that any new trade deal meets three tests: First,
it must protect American workers. Second, it needs to raise wages and
create more good jobs at home. Third, it must also strengthen our national
security. Too often over the years we haven’t gotten the balance right on
trade. We’ve seen that even a strong deal can fall short on delivering the
promised benefits. And unfortunately, the TPP agreement that was
negotiated does not meet this high bar.
As President, I would seek and deploy a range of tools to fight back against
unfair competition and attempts by other countries to take advantage of us.
As President, I would pursue a range of strategies to fight back against
currency manipulation – and I would work with Congress to ensure I had
the authorities and resources I need. The days when other countries could
take advantage of our open markets without themselves committing to a
level playing field should end. And I believe it is critical that we
address health and environmental regulations and workers' rights and
wages. Multilateral trade agreements can be used to raise global trade
standards. And we can bring others along in having higher labor,
environmental and other standards.
I still believe in the goal of a strong and fair trade agreement in the Pacific
as part of a broader strategy both at home and abroad. I am focused on a
trade policy that improves labor rights, protects the environment and health,
helps crack down on currency manipulation, and opens new opportunities
for our small business to export overseas.
Forging a Federal Budget that Reflects Environmental Priorities
The annual Budget for the United States put forward each year by the President in
February is much more than a document of funding levels and cost saving
recommendations. The President’s Budget Blueprint reflects the key priorities of
the Administration. The President’s Budget offers the opportunity to increase
federal investments to:
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Support public transportation and electric vehicles;
Fulfill the unmet demand for family planning;
Secure full funding EPA monitoring & enforcement;
Ensure full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund;
End Fossil fuel subsidies;
Promote Incentives and subsidies to spur clean energy development.
Promote the POWER+ Plan to invest in workers and jobs by
addressing important legacy costs in coal country.
15) As President, will you put forward a Budget Blueprint that will
drive investments that support safe and healthy communities, ensure
protections for our public lands and champions incentives to drive our
clean energy economy?
Yes. In addition to defending against Republican efforts to defund Planned
Parenthood, EPA, LWCF and the Green Climate Fund, I would significantly
increase funding for clean energy research and development, climate
resilience, and transportation infrastructure and solutions that reduce local
air pollution and GHG emissions, cut commute times, and improve the
equity of access to good jobs and schools. I would end wasteful taxpayer
subsidies for fossil fuels and return that money to states, cities and rural
communities through my Clean Energy Challenge to invest in clean energy
and energy efficiency. My $30 billion plan for revitalizing coal communities
builds on the important progress of POWER+ but goes much further.
16) Will you commit to veto stand alone legislation and any spending
bills that include appropriations riders that undermine bedrock
environmental laws.
Yes.
Promoting a Just Democracy
Sierra Club's values are rooted in principles of justice, fairness, and equality. We
believe both nature and people deserve justice and full protection under the law.
We believe in a society that is first and foremost just, fair and rational - one that
abhors brutality and favors equality. Whether it's the planet itself or the people who
inhabit it, we hold the ideals of respect and reverence in the highest regard. For
these reasons, we support policies that not only preserve and protect the
environment but promote racial, economic, social and environmental justice.
17) Will you direct your administration to support and actively promote
policies that address racial, economic, social and environmental justice?
Our nation cannot reach its fullest potential until we address the racial,
social, economic and environmental disparities that far too many American
families and communities still face. These inequities are rooted in a history
of discrimination and materialize today in a system that is too often stacked
for those at the top. That’s true in our criminal justice system, our education
system, in employment, housing, and transit. And tragically, it’s true in the
very air our children breathe and in the water they drink.
That is why my campaign has focused on laying out policies that will
address the inequalities in our system; I will fight to make these policies a
reality as President:
Environmental Justice: The water crisis in Flint, Michigan underscores that
clean water and clean air are basic human rights—and that our rights
shouldn’t change based on what ZIP code we live in. All Americans, and
especially children, deserve safe water and healthy air. But there are a lot
more Flints in America—overwhelmingly low-income communities and
communities of color, rural and urban alike, where pollution, toxic
chemicals, and decades of neglect harm kids’ health and futures. That’s why
as President, I will pursue cleaner transportation, take ambitious steps to
reduce air pollution, and make new investments in safe and modern water
infrastructure.
I’ve prioritized environmental justice throughout my career: In the Senate I
introduced the Lead-Safe Housing for Kids Act to make it easier for the
Department of Housing and Urban Development to take action when public
housing residents are exposed to dangerous levels of lead. I also
cosponsored a measure calling on the EPA to revise its lead paint hazard
standard under the Toxic Substances Control Act to do more to protect
pregnant women and children from the dangers of lead paint. And I
introduced a bill to improve federal coordination around reducing lead
exposure from every source.
Economic Justice: I have said many times that getting incomes rising again
is the defining economic challenge of our time. I will fight to raise incomes
so that working families can get ahead and stay ahead and I will ensure that
the wealthiest Americans are paying their fair share. My plan includes
raising the minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for women and guaranteed
paid family and medical leave, providing incentives for companies to share
profits with their employees, boosting apprenticeships to help more people
get into the workforce, making pre-K universal for all 4 year-olds, and
ensuring cost doesn’t hold anyone back from earning a college education.
I’ll ensure we are investing in our economy and our people in order to create
good-paying jobs: I will invest $275 billion in our crumbling infrastructure
and ensure that critical investments are going to the communities that need
them most. I will work to revitalize manufacturing, remove barriers to
sustainable home ownership and affordable housing and build on President
Obama’s efforts to protect working families from abusive financial
practices. Finally, all of my plans will be fully paid for by asking the most
fortunate to contribute more—middle class families have struggled enough;
they need a raise, not a tax increase.
Racial and Criminal Justice: We have to confront the gaps that exist across
our country and the inequality that continues to stalk too many communities.
First, our criminal justice system is out of balance—from Ferguson to Staten
Island to Baltimore, the patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable.
Therefore we must work to strengthen the bonds of trust between our
communities and our police, end racial profiling and the era of mass
incarceration, and ensure a successful transition of individuals from prison to
home. We have to address the heartbreaking violence in our society by
standing up to the gun lobby and working to build on President Obama’s
common sense gun reforms.
I said recently that I want this campaign, and eventually my administration,
to be more about inspiring young people, and older ones as well, to find that
niche where kindness matters, whether it’s to a friend, a neighbor, a
colleague, a fellow student — whether it’s in a classroom or doctor’s office
or in a business — we need to do more to help each other. An important part
of that is ensuring our laws and our policies allow all Americans to see the
justice and opportunity we all deserve.
RECENT PRESS AND PRESS RELEASES
Flint is just the tip of the iceberg
Cornell William Brooks, President, NAACP
Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club
CNN
March 4, 2016
(CNN) The world stared in disbelief recently at the news that an American city of
nearly 100,000 was needlessly exposed to toxic levels of lead in the city's water
system. In Flint, Michigan, thousands of families fear for their health and their
children's future. And as the full story has emerged, disbelief has turned to outrage,
turning Flint into a political issue big enough to attract a presidential debate. But
what will happen once the television cameras and the presidential candidates leave
Flint? Will there be meaningful change to ensure this never happens again? That
depends on whether the root causes of this disaster are addressed. It's no secret that
the poorest communities in our nation are often the most vulnerable to pollution,
whether it's undrinkable water or unhealthy air. That fact is obviously both a health
issue and an economic issue. But it's also an issue of race and of justice. Every
family, regardless of income or skin color, should be able to expect that the air they
breathe is clean, that the water they drink is safe, and that their government will
treat them with fairness and equality. In Flint, a tragedy that should never have
happened was magnified by what can only be called callous indifference. How did
the United States become a nation where something like this could happen? It
wasn't by accident... Shrinking government: A self-fulfilling
prophesy...Circumventing local government: Emergency
managers...Crumbling infrastructure: Flint is just the latest example.
Sierra Club Statement on Nomination of Merrick Garland to Supreme Court
March 16, 2016
(Washington) Today, President Obama will nominate Merrick Garland to fill the
vacancy on the Supreme Court.
The Sierra Club is mobilizing its 2.4 million members and supporters to call on the
Senate to do its job, sending more than 77,000 messages to Congress, organizing a
letter from the environmental community to the Senate, and participating in actions
across the country.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the
following statement:
“President Obama has done his job, now it's time the U.S. Senate does its job by
holding a hearing and a timely vote for this well-qualified, impressive nominee as
soon as possible. Merrick Garland is exactly the kind of fair, even-handed, and
thoughtful jurist who deserves the immediate consideration of the Senate, and not
more of the obstruction Senate Republicans have promised. The Sierra Club's
members and supporters across the country will continue to mobilize to ensure the
Senate fulfills its constitutional duty, does its job, and gives Merrick Garland the
fair and honorable consideration he deserves.”
Re: Following Announcement of TransCanada’s Investor-State Case against
the United States, Environmental Organizations Urge Opposition to TransPacific Partnership
Sierra Club et al.
March 9, 2016
Dear Member of Congress,
The Obama Administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would
have expanded the development of one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet, was
a historic win for communities and the climate. As environmental organizations
fighting against the expansion of tar sands development and harmful trade
agreements, we are deeply troubled by TransCanada’s announcement that it
intends to use the North American Free Trade Agreement’s controversial investorstate dispute settlement (ISDS) system to demand $15 billion from the U.S. public
as compensation for this historic project rejection. We are even more concerned
that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would extend nearly the exact same rules
that TransCanada is using to thousands of new firms operating in the U.S. These
would include companies with major investments in fossil fuels, threatening our
ability to keep fossil fuels in the ground. We therefore strongly urge you to oppose
the TPP.
While we are deeply troubled by TransCanada’s announcement, it does not
surprise us. For years, environmental, environmental justice, labor, faith,
Indigenous, affordable healthcare, consumer, family farmer, small business, and
many other groups have stressed that the TPP threatens countries’ ability to set
public interest safeguards. Countries have already been ordered to pay billions of
dollars to foreign investors in ISDS suits, often for policies that protected the
environment and public health. Last year more than 100 leading U.S. legal scholars
detailed ISDS’s threats to U.S. public interest policies.
If the Keystone XL rejection is not immune from investor challenges under trade
agreements, it is hard to imagine what environmental policies would be safe,
especially if the TPP were to pass. In its environmental assessment, the U.S.
Department of State found that Keystone XL would have generated the equivalent
of up to 8.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, an amount
greater than total annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The project also would
have threatened First Nation communities in Canada; Indigenous leaders, farmers
and ranchers living near the project; refining communities in the U.S.; and people
living along the pipeline route. The Obama Administration’s rejection of the
Keystone XL pipeline was an execution of its legal right, done amidst widespread
evidence that the project would hurt communities and the environment. It is
therefore egregious that, under NAFTA, TransCanada can demand billions of
dollars for a sound policy decision that is squarely within the U.S. law.
Yet fossil fuel corporations are increasingly using ISDS as a tool to undermine
environmental policies. The ISDS system of arbitration has already empowered
corporations to launch almost 700 cases against the policies of more than 100
governments across the world. Recent cases have targeted a fracking moratorium
in Quebec, Canada; restrictions on a coal-fired power plant in Germany; and an
Ecuadorian court order for Chevron to pay for widespread pollution caused by oil
operations in the Amazon. Half of the new ISDS cases launched in 2014 stemmed
from investments in power generation, mining, or oil and gas extraction.
Corporations have a good chance of profiting from ISDS suits; more than half of
concluded ISDS suits have ended in a loss for the government or settlement with
the investor. While losing a case can cost countries millions or billions of dollars,
settlements have also required governments to pay corporations millions of dollars
in damages and legal fees, and sometimes to even reverse the challenged policies.
The TPP would significantly expand the reach of the ISDS system. If approved by
Congress, the 12-nation TPP would extend virtually the same broad rights that
TransCanada is using to more than 9,000 new foreign-owned firms in the U.S.,
roughly doubling the number of foreign corporations that could follow
TransCanada’s lead and bring cases against the U.S. Under the TPP, foreign
corporations could use their international investments in the U.S. to challenge a
number of new environmental and climate policies, including restrictions on
fracking, mining, oil and gas pipelines, offshore drilling, pollution, and greenhouse
gas emissions.
We are concerned that investor-state cases such as TransCanada’s are heard not in
U.S. courts but in private trade tribunals. Three private attorneys bound by no legal
precedents, and acting under no meaningful conflict of interest rules, would
determine whether the U.S. government acted fairly towards TransCanada in
rejecting Keystone XL. In past cases, more than half of these attorneys have
rotated between serving as tribunal “judges,” and as lawyers representing
corporations in ISDS cases against governments. Such tribunals have repeatedly
ruled against environmental policies on the basis that they thwarted foreign
investors’ “expectations.”
The TPP would create a powerful roadblock to environmental and social progress
by empowering corporations to demand billions of dollars in compensation for
climate and environmental policies. Furthermore, these ISDS cases could be
detrimental to the sovereignty and rights of Native Nations in the U.S. and First
Nations in Canada in the protection of their lands, territories, and peoples. In order
to protect the U.S.’s ability to make environmental safeguards and other public
interest policies, we strongly urge you to oppose the TPP.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
TALKING POINTS FOR SIERRA CLUB ENDORSEMENT
NEW YORK, NY
MARCH 18, 2016
 Thank you all for meeting today, and for your flexibility as
schedules have changed.
 Climate change is one of the most serious threats we face as a
country. Across our country, Americans are grappling with the
consequences of climate challenge. In Miami, there are streets
flooding on sunny days. Arizona is experiencing historic drought.
 The next President can’t wait to take action on climate change. We
need an activist administration to follow President Obama. We
need to be as ambitious and creative as possible to reduce carbon
pollution, protect our lands and waters, and protect public health.
We have all seen times when the federal government has been a
strong partner with groups like the Sierra Club, and times when it
has missed opportunities or resisted change. As President, I will
work alongside groups like Sierra to ensure we don’t leave any
Americans out or behind in a clean energy future.
 We have to defend the gains we’ve made under President Obama,
starting with the Clean Power Plan. And we’ll set bold national
goals: 500 million solar panels installed by the end of my first term
… to generate enough renewable energy to power every home in
America by the end of my second term… to generate 10 times
more clean energy on public lands … and to cut energy waste and
oil consumption by a third.
 We also need to make environmental justice and climate justice
top priorities. We know there are more Flints out there. We know
that the poorest and most vulnerable of our fellow Americans stand
to lose the most from climate change. I’ve worked on
environmental justice since I was First Lady, because pollution can
seriously harm kids’ health.
 And we need to make sure every American shares in the
benefits of a clean energy future. That means helping bring solar
and energy efficiency technologies to low-income communities,
protecting mineworkers’ pensions and health benefits, and
investing in creating new economic opportunities in coal
communities. It means creating jobs in every community in clean
energy and energy efficiency and green infrastructure.

The kind of action we need on climate change, clean energy, and
environmental justice is going to take building robust
partnerships—like what you’re doing here at Sierra with the
NAACP on environmental justice. This is going to take a coalition
of every sector of the economy, all levels of government, and all
kinds of nonprofit organizations and activists pulling together.
 Simply put, we need to use every tool we have. We’ll empower
cities, states, and rural communities that are ready to lead with a
new Clean Energy Challenge. Ensure that we and the world live up
to and fulfill the Paris agreement. Galvanize more international
action through a North American Climate Compact with Canada
and Mexico. Slash carbon pollution and methane emissions. Make
America a clean energy superpower. Because there’s no Planet B.