Hillary ‘Skeptical’ of Obama’s Plans to Allow Oil Drilling in the Arctic

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Hillary Clinton has been heavily criticized by voters and her opponent Bernie Sanders for continually dodging questions about hot button environmental issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking and Arctic drilling. Clinton, however, did declare in her first major campaign speech that climate change “is one of the defining threats of our time” and released a climate and energy plan Monday.

Now, on a New Hampshire television station yesterday, the former secretary of state expressed her “doubts” about drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.

And, earlier in the day at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, when asked whether as president she would sign a bill in favor of allowing the Keystone XL pipeline, she replied, “This is President Obama’s decision and I am not going to second guess him. Because I was in a position to set this in motion and I do not think that would be the right thing to do. So I want to wait see what he and Secretary Kerry decide. If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question.” 

In her response to Arctic drilling, she broke with the Obama administration saying, “I have doubts about whether we should continue drilling in the Arctic. And I don’t think it is a necessary part of our overall clean energy climate change agenda. I will be talking about drilling in general but I am skeptical about whether we should give the go ahead to drill in the Arctic.”

Clinton’s remarks were praised by Sierra Club′s Executive Director Michael Brune, who said, “Secretary Clinton is absolutely right: allowing dangerous oil drilling in the Arctic is toxic to any clean energy and climate action legacy. Letting oil companies use unproven technology to extract dirty fuels in one of the world’s most pristine areas is a recipe for disaster that goes against science, the will of the people and common sense.”

Groups such as Sierra Club and Greenpeace have staged numerous protests in response to the Obama administration’s decision to allow Shell to drill in the Arctic. Just today, 13 activists suspended themselves from a bridge in Portland, Oregon to block one of Shell’s vessels from leaving port for Alaskan waters.

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