Excerpt from “New Hampshire: Clean Energy is One of Our Primary Concerns” by Bruce Clendenning, published in The Nature Conservancy.
While attention is fixed on the New Hampshire primary,
Granite Staters of all political stripes support a clean energy future.This year, like every four years, the nation watches New Hampshire as Granite Staters pepper the presidential candidates about every possible issue. Right now, across our state, they’re asking questions you’d expect about national security, the economy and immigration.
But they’re also asking about energy and climate.
When the votes are all cast and the national press moves on to the next big state, we’ll still be talking about clean energy. Republicans and Democrats alike.
Here are four ways that New Hampshire demonstrates that we don’t just choose presidents. We can lead the way on the critical energy policies facing the nation, if we work together the New Hampshire way.
Bi-Partisan Support. In New Hampshire, support for clean energy and action on climate change is strong and bipartisan. Polling on energy issues and climate routinely shows support for the kinds of policies that will directly reduce climate emissions. Recent examples include an August 2015 survey that found that 68 percent of New Hampshire residents believe that climate change is a serious problem and 66 percent believe that the policies included in the Clean Power Plan represent a good approach to the problem.In December, 72 percent of New Hampshire Republican primary voters stated that it’s important for presidential candidates to have a clean energy plan and 74 percent want increased usage of renewable energy and decreased use of coal.While public support for these energy goals is strong, as in any other state, sometimes our elected officials lag in reading the public sentiment. We expect that as public support remains consistently strong, the “leaders” will follow their constituents toward clean energy solutions.