According to a new poll, 62% of registered voters said the U.S government should approve the building of the Keystone Pipeline, believing that the pipeline would bolster job growth and have negligible effects on the environment. Outraged, environmental groups have awkwardly tried to keep their composure, saying, "None of these arguments hold up to scrutiny."
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, has taken significant measures to make his opinions on the matter heard loud and clear.
Jobs, jobs and less reliance on foreign oil seems to be Romney's position on the environment. But is this strong voicing of his current policy just a cover for Romney's unbelievable devotion to political backstepping? Let's take a brief look at Romney’s environmental positions over the years:
First, there was this, which is only tangentially related: "If the choice is between dirty power plants or protecting the health of the people of Massachussetts, I will always come down on the side of public health," Romney said at the Salem Harbor Station power plant. That sounds like the EPA mission statement: "To ensure that all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work."
Early last year at Romney’s first town hall meeting, he laid out his firm, unchanging belief that the humans are contributing to global warming, is a thing that really exists. In his 2010 book No Apology, Romney wrote, "I believe that climate change is occurring...I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor." Cool, that's a strong position that can shape decent environmental policy.
A few months later at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Romney said, "My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us."
In New Hampshire last year, he said, "The EPA is getting into carbon footprints and I think we may have made a mistake." True, the EPA is getting into carbon footprints and reviewing the environmental impacts of the Keystone pipeline.
Now, Romney's website says he will "amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview—and makes no mention of climate change.
Romney has hit Obama over blocking the Keystone Pipeline — though Obama has only blocked a particular version of the Pipeline, pending further envirnonmental study—a position bound win favor with a public that eager for lower gas prices and more jobs. But will he win favor for the right reasons? But, tellingly, Romney doesn't even have an environmental policy—he has an energy policy, which tells you everything you need to know about what a man who once believed in "protecting the health of the people" now thinks about the enviromental impacts of industry.
Or at least that's what he thinks today. Let's not fool ourselves about Romney: his positions are simply mirror the opinions of the people he is talking to. So, if you are looking for a cogent environmental policy — whether it be for the advantage of environmentalists or industrialists – don’t look to Mitt Romney for guidance.
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