Energy issues threaded through Wednesday’s Republican debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley argued about the future of energy production in the United States and globally.
The idea of “reliable energy” and President Joe Biden’s record dominated the very short conversations on climate change at both the debate and former President Donald Trump’s town hall event across town.
Domestic Energy Production
The opening portion of the debate focused on relieving financial pressure for middle-class Americans, which DeSantis said he’d do in part by opening up “all energy production” as a deflationary measure.
Haley questioned this, pointing out that during DeSantis’s time as a member of the House of Representatives (2013–2018), he cosponsored a bill to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal energy program that requires oil companies to blend renewable fuel, including biofuels, into petroleum-based transportation fuel. Iowa is the leading U.S. producer of the biofuel ethanol thanks to its millions of acres of cornfields.
DeSantis reasserted his dedication to all facets of energy production. “We’re looking forward to opening up energy production, definitely here in the Midwest with biofuels,” he countered, adding that he’d spent time visiting Iowa’s 99 counties and listening to residents about what they’re looking for in terms of the state’s energy future.
DeSantis has made the promise of $2-per-gallon gas a principle of his campaign, which his campaign website says he plans to achieve by “unleashing oil and gas exploration and development.”
“We’re gonna choose Midland over Moscow. We’re gonna choose the Marcellus over the mullahs. And we’re gonna choose the Bakken over Beijing.”
Onstage Wednesday, he said as president he would prioritize development of the Bakken Shale and Marcellus Shale formations, two oil- and natural gas–rich regions in the United States, over buying fuel from foreign countries.
“We’re gonna choose Midland over Moscow. We’re gonna choose the Marcellus over the mullahs. And we’re gonna choose the Bakken over Beijing,” he said.
At one point, CNN host Jake Tapper asked the candidates whether they would take action as president to cut emissions, especially since Iowa farmers have suffered costly losses from flooding and are predicted to face increasingly wet and volatile weather as a result of a warming climate.
Neither candidate said they would slash fossil fuel use, an action scientists say is necessary to keep global warming under limits set by the Paris Agreement. Instead, DeSantis stressed the need to maintain “reliable energy,” including natural gas, whereas Haley, who helped to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement during Trump’s presidency, emphasized the importance of investing in technological innovation. Advancements in nuclear power in particular, she said, would have a better impact on emissions than cutting fossil fuel use or incentivizing the production and use of electric vehicles.
Both candidates promised to roll back Biden’s “green subsidies,” referring in part to the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 law that promises reductions in carbon emissions via electric vehicle tax credits and other measures.
“On day one as president, we take Biden’s Green New Deal, we tear it up, and we throw it in the trash can,” DeSantis said.
At his Fox News–hosted town hall, former President Trump used more typically colorful terms—calling policies of the Biden administration “this new green scam business.” He seemingly agreed with DeSantis’s priorities to expand domestic oil and gas development, however. “We’re gonna drill, baby, drill,” Trump said.
Missing from the conversation about energy production and ethanol was Vivek Ramaswamy, who failed to qualify to participate in the CNN-hosted debate. Earlier in the day, Ramaswamy attended a protest to oppose the use of eminent domain to seize property for carbon capture pipelines. These pipelines aim to sequester carbon dioxide emitted during ethanol production.
Foreign Policy
Energy issues came up in foreign policy discussions, too, both obliquely and directly. Haley, for instance, justified spending to support Ukraine and Israel by comparing the cost to “Biden’s green subsidies.”
Moreover, DeSantis said of carbon emissions, “China is the problem here.” He specifically cited China’s continued reliance on coal-fired power plants.
In a rare moment of agreement, Haley seemed to concur, saying that the United States should be doing more to hold China and India accountable for their contributions to climate change.
—Grace van Deelen (@GVD__), Staff Writer