Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on Saturday said he will fight for clean energy jobs in the Old Dominion, telling the energized crowd at the campaign's first state-wide field office opening in Arlington that "I've been involved in a lot of businesses, including renewable energy. We need jobs for the 21st century. I've met some folks here doing wind and solar and I congratulate you. I promise you as governor we are going to do something about making our renewable energy standard mandatory. Because it's about job creation. We ought to have wind turbines. But we ought to build the blades and the rotors here in Virginia."
In Virginia, the 2007 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is voluntary, meaning the state is losing business to the 29 states and the District of Columbia that have mandatory renewable energy standards. Not a single solar, wind or other clean energy project has broken ground in Virginia since the law was passed.
McAuliffe, who founded and owns an electric car company, wants a plan that requires a certain amount of renewable energy projects in Virginia.
His opponent, right-wing Republican attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, supports legislation that would repeal Virginia's Renewable Portfolio Standard. In addition to blocking clean energy jobs in Virginia, Cuccinelli is a climate denier who unsuccessfully sued climate scientist Michael Mann and sued the EPA to prevent regulation of greenhouse gases.
Read more about McAuliffe's campaign event on The National Memo.
Here is video of McAuliffe's speech.
Photo and video credits: Josh Marks
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