Newark, NJ — Today, Cory Booker is unveiling his plan to combat climate change and create a 100% carbon neutral economy, millions of good-paying jobs, and a guaranteed right to clean air, water, and soil for all Americans.
“We are facing a dual crisis of climate change and economic inequality,” said Cory Booker. “Without immediate action, we risk an incredible human toll from disasters, health impacts, rising national security threats, and trillions of dollars in economic losses.”
“To end the real and growing threat of climate change and to create a more just country for everyone, we must heal these past mistakes and act boldly to create a green and equitable future. That’s exactly what I’ll do as president.”
Cory’s plan will build an economy that is 100% carbon neutral and brings millions of jobs and investment to every corner of the country. The plan makes an unprecedented investment in clean energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles — the kind of technology and infrastructure that will power a carbon-free economy. To phase out the use of fossil fuels, Cory’s plan would end tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry; bar all new onshore or offshore fossil fuel leases; phase out fracking; require fossil fuel companies to stop methane leaks from all sources or be subject to significant fines; ban new fossil fuel infrastructure after 2025; reinstate the ban on crude oil exports; and expand the ban to cover all fossil fuel exports by 2030. In addition, the plan would require fossil fuel producers pay a carbon fee on fossil fuel sources at the coal mine, natural gas wellhead and oil refinery — with substantial revenue being returned to Americans in the form of a monthly dividend.
Cory’s plan also makes sweeping new investment to reassert our global leadership in research and development. It would fund a Moonshot Hub in all 50 states, each charged with tackling the most important and difficult challenges in basic science, applied research, manufacturing, and commercialization in their dedicated field.
Cory’s plan puts people and communities at its center. The plan calls for the creation of the United States Environmental Justice Fund, led by a White House Advisor for Environmental Justice and charged with coordinating the most ambitious-ever federal effort to advance environmental justice and invest in communities long left behind. This comes on the heels of the first planks of Booker’s environmental justice platform, released in April, that strengthens EPA enforcement and forces corporate polluters to pay to clean up the pollution they create.
A hallmark of the Fund is its lead remediation initiative — paving the way for the replacement of every school, daycare, and residential lead drinking water service line in the country and the lead abatement in all housing units by the end of his second term. Currently, 1.2 million children in the U.S. have unsafe blood lead levels and there are more than 3,000 areas across the country where the blood lead levels in children are double that of the kids in Flint, Michigan at the height of that city’s crisis. Newark, where Cory has lived for the past 20 years, is struggling with lead issues in its drinking water today.
As president, Cory Booker would:
