Is Kay Hagan the Clean Choice in North Carolina? Yes.
Is climate change real? Yes.
Is Kay Hagan Running Clean? Yes.
Is Thom Tillis a Dirty Denier? Yes.
Simple questions with simple answers. Unfortunately, Thom Tillis, who is challenging incumbent Kay Hagan to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate, can't get even a simple question right. Asked at a debate whether climate change is real, Tillis replied simply: "No."
That one short word betrays Tillis's true priorities: siding with the big polluters who fund his campaign rather than protecting his state from the damaging effects of climate change. It's a familiar pattern to those who have observed Tillis during his time in the North Carolina Assembly. While Tillis originally voted in favor of the state's renewable electricity standard, Tillis said he supported the effort to repeal the standard five years later. Tillis was the Speaker of the Assembly when it voted to forbid the state's coastal commission from planning for the increased sea level rise that scientists are predicting will occur due to climate change. He voted to authorize hydraulic fracturing in the state and to allow fracking companies to keep their toxic chemical blends secret from the public. Tillis also sponsored legislation that would allow coal ash to be kept in uncapped pits that fail to protect communities from the toxic sludge.
In contrast, Hagan has been working to protect North Carolina's environment and the public's health for more than a decade. Hagan started her political career -- and her record as an environmental champion -- in the North Carolina state Senate. As a state senator, she was a cosponsor of the Clean Smokestacks Act, which required all the state's coal-fired power plants to substantially reduce their smog and acid rain pollution. The law also eventually led to EPA's action to reduce cross-state air pollution, a rule which is predicted to save at least 13,000 lives per year and which Hagan voted to protect when it came under attack in the Senate. She supported the state's renewable electricity standard and earned a score of 85 percent from the Conservation Council of North Carolina from 2003 to 2007.
Since taking office in the U.S. Senate, Hagan has continued to be a Clean Air Hero. She has voted again and again in favor of reducing pollution including the carbon pollution responsible for climate change and she has earned a lifetime score of 84 percent from LCV.
The questions are simple.
Is climate change real? Yes.
Must we act on climate? Yes.
Which candidate agrees? Senator Kay Hagan.