Hillary Clinton vows to defend, extend Obama’s climate efforts

Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON

Hillary Clinton said she would both defend and go beyond the efforts by President Barack Obama to address climate change in the first detailed description of her potential environmental polices if elected president.

Clinton released what her campaign said was the opening salvo of the Democrat’s energy and climate change agenda Sunday, while she was campaigning in Iowa.

Among other things, Clinton pledged to defend from legal or political attack the Obama administration’s rule to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s fleet of power plants.

A Clinton administration would go further, rewarding communities that speed rooftop solar-panel installation, backing a contest for states to go beyond the minimums called for in the environmental rules, and boosting solar and wind production on federal lands.

A four-page campaign fact sheet said the goal was to increase the share of U.S. power generation from renewable sources to 33 percent by 2027, compared with 25 percent under Obama’s carbon plan.