Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found. Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position. Candidates are listed by party and in alphabetical order by last name. Black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria for inclusion.
Should the Clean Air Act be amended to exclude carbon dioxide (CO2) from regulation?
Virgil Goode, former US Representative (R-VA), provided the following response on Feb. 16, 2012, to "The Constitution Party of Indiana Presidential Candidate Questionnaire," available at www.cpindiana.org:
"Section M – Environment and Energy...
Should the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water and Air Acts be continued and/or strengthened?
Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Joe Hunter, in a July 9, 2012 email to ProCon.org:
"Yes. At the heart of CO2 regulation under the Clean Air Act is EPA's authority - confirmed by the Courts - to decide that CO2 emissions 'endanger' the public health and safety. That required EPA to decide that climate change is both caused by CO2 emissions and that climate change is endangering us. I would suggest that the threshold EPA should use to decide that CO2 is endangering us must require more certainty than has been provided to date on either of those questions.
What IS certain is that more regulation of CO2, based on uncertain need, is essentially a tax on every American who drives a car or uses electricity. Given what has happened with CO2 regulation under both the Bush and Obama Administrations, and the costly uncertainty that has resulted, perhaps the greater need is to amend the Clean Air Act to tighten the requirements that must be met before imposing job-killing regulations -whether it be CO2 or any other 'pollutant'." July 9, 2012 Gary Johnson
[Editor's Note: On April 5, 2011 the Executive Office of the President released a "Statement of Administration Policy," available at www.whitehouse.gov, on HR 910 the "Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011" vowing that Obama would veto the bill if it made it to his desk. It contained the following statement:
"The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 910, which would halt the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) common-sense steps under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to protect Americans from harmful air pollution. H.R. 910 would also increase the Nation's dependence on oil and other fossil fuels as well as contradict the scientific consensus on climate change."
The Energy Tax Prevention Act sought to amend the Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from regulation as a pollutant. The act passed the US House of Representatives (255-172) on Apr. 7, 2011. The Act was received by the Senate on Apr. 8 and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.]
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, stated the following on July 14, 2011 during a town hall event in Derry, New Hampshire, available at www.thinkprogress.org:
"I believe we should keep our air and our water clean. And that we don’t want to have pollutants that are interfering with our health and damaging the ability of our children to enjoy good health...
I think we may have made a mistake, we have made a mistake is what I believe, in saying that the EPA should regulate carbon emissions. I don’t think that was the intent of the original legislation [Clean Air Act], and I don’t think carbon is a pollutant in the sense of harming our bodies. We can agree to disagree...
My view is that the EPA getting into carbon and regulating carbon has gone beyond the original intent of the legislation. I do believe we should reduce the pollutants that harm our health." July 14, 2011 Mitt Romney
[Editor's Note: In addition to the above statement, Mitt Romney's campaign website page "Energy," available at www.mittromney.com (accessed May 15, 2012) states that if Romney is elected president he will seek to "Amend [the] Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview."]
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), voted yes on the "Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011" (H.R. 910), an act to amended the Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from regulation as a pollutant, on Apr. 7, 2011. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) summary of the Act, available at www.thomas.loc.gov, states the following:
"Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from promulgating any regulation concerning, taking action relating to, or taking into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas (GHG) [including carbon dioxide] to address climate change. Excludes GHGs from the definition of 'air pollutant' for purposes of addressing climate change." Apr. 7, 2011 Ron Paul