Republican Definition of Environmental Justice

Video Transcript

"Environmental justice. First of all I think we have to talk about protecting the environment and understanding that I perceive myself to be environmentalist. I think anybody who's involved in politics, an elected office understands that we have a responsibility to take care of the environment because it affects next generation and the generation after that. But by saying that we need to find a balance however, in terms of how we go about protecting the environment and talking about the environment. One of the most important things that we're talking about now is energy and how do we get the energy we need in order to run the world and make sure the third worlds come in to where we are now, like in the United States. When we talk about bringing in third world countries in to the consumption of energy, like what's going on in China, Indonesia, we're increasing the demand for our energy needs. The United States, we can look at wind power, we can look at all kinds of other alternatives, but everyone wants to say, well I don't want to look at a wind turban, and we have to find a balance for our environmental issues. I mean I think we should be looking at hydro power. I think we need to put more dams in. I think we need to take a look at the strength of nuclear power. Even though we have a waste issue we need to figure out and address what it is. We need to take a look at the whole package and find a balance for what's the right way for us to deal with what our energy needs are. When we take a look at balancing things in the state of Vermont, I think that we've gone perhaps sometimes too far, our environmental issues versus business issues and succeeded. Environmental justice to me requires balancing those interests of the good of the human beings, economics, all the other pieces that go together and that we can't look at it in a vacuum. And I think we've gone perhaps too far in some of our decisions and we need to find a balance. But when we use the term environmental justice we need to do what's right. We need to understand that we need to do what's right for the environment and find a balance that works. And that does require looking at the good of the whole and not just yourself. And that means I may have to accept that there is a wind turban that's sitting on my back hill in my own backyard and not think it has to be in somebody else's backyard."