SPRINGFIELD – Sen. Edward Markey said during an interview with Reminder Publishing and FOCUS Springfield that he welcomes debating his opponents during his reelection effort.

Markey is running for his second term in the Senate after a lengthy career in the House of Representatives. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, businessman Steve Pemberton and Rep. Joe Kennedy are his challengers.
Markey was in Western Massachusetts to speak at an event hosted by the Collegiate Democrats at Holyoke Community College. He was impressed with the enthusiasm he saw of the college students who attended the event and believe their interest and activism will play a major role in the 2020 election.

“They care about the racist tweets and actions the president has engaged in. All of it has led to this incredible outpouring of energy,” he said.

He added this kind of youth involvement with politics is happening everywhere. “I think this could be the X factor, the thing that actually tips the election next year,” he predicted.

Markey has made climate change as one of his primary issues and has teamed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introducing the “Green New Deal,” a non-binding resolution that calls for a number of steps to reach a goal of “global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from human sources of 40 to 60 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; and net-zero global emissions by 2050.”

The “Green New Deal” calls for a number of changes including supporting sustainable farming and land use practices; develop zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; and “overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; clean, affordable, and accessible public transit and high-speed rail,” among other measures.    

Under the Trump Administration, Markey asserted the Environmental Protection Agency has “become every polluter’s ally.”

He noted the administration is attempting to roll back many environmental laws, including one that Markey has watched carefully: the fuel economy standards.

Markey was a leader in the House for the passage of the law that would enact by 2025 a standard of 54.5 miles a gallon. He said the Trump Administration wants to maintain the current standards.

The fuel efficiency of power plants is also an issue that concerns Markey. He said the Trump Administration is “giving a reprieve” to the coal industry about allowing coal to be burned to create electricity.

“He’s trying to roll everything back and China and India, they take note and they say if you’re not going to act, we’re not going to act,” he said.

The United States must be the global leader in trying to arrest climate change, he added.

There is legislation – some of which Markey has introduced – that would address climate change. Among them, he noted are bills that would provide tax breaks for off-shore winds and a green bank that would give low interest loans to municipalities and private sector companies so “they can institute green strategies.”

“It’s really not a question of technology any longer. It’s really a question of political will,” Markey said of establishing a strategy to address climate change. “If we have the political will, the technologies will be there in order to transform our economy,” he added.

Markey said that members of Congress who may have not supported the idea of man-made climate change “increasingly say the right things, but ultimately there’s  – there’s an old saying, ‘It’s hard to understand something when you’re paid not to understand it.’ Because such a high percentage of money that goes into the Republican Party comes out of the fossil fuel industry it’s just hard for them to get around that fact and act on climate change.”

The senator said that “everything we build needs to be green,” including infrastructure improvements and mass transportation systems.

He noted Congress is still waiting for the president to introduce an infrastructure bill, which was one of his talking points during the election.

“I’m on the infrastructure committee, I’m still waiting for that bill to arrive,” Markey said. He added he would make sure that legislation was “green.”

He doesn‘t believe that going green would negatively impact the economy and is not “socialistic” as some critics have charged.

“My perspective is what is the description they have for 100 years of tax breaks for the gas industry, for the oil industry, for the coal industry? By their definition that’s socialism – having the federal government help in the energy industry is socialism. What we’re saying is give us the same permanent tax breaks for wind, solar, for all electric vehicles, the storage technology for all electric buildings that they have been providing for multiple generations to the fossil fuel industry and then we will win out in the marketplace,” he said.

Speaking about the current investigation into the possible impeachment of the president, Markey said, “I think this is less about politics and than it is about the Constitution. The Constitution is very clear in terms what actions a president can take in his dealings with foreign nations. And all of the evidence that’s already been revealed in the past ten days makes it very clear President Trump was asking the president of Ukraine to actually dig up dirt on Trump’s political opponent and that is so far outside what our Constitution allows. It is imperative for the United States House of Representatives to begin an impeachment inquiry and to uncover all of the evidence and if necessary, and I think it will be, to have the vote on whether or not he should be impeached.”

He believes it is “absolutely imperative” for the American public to hear the evidence.

To view the complete
interview go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7sqW30SEP8&feature=youtu.be