CLEVELAND, OHIO (WTOL) - On the heels of Sunday night’s Ohio senatorial debate between Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and U.S. Representative Jim Renacci, climate change was a divisive topic for the two politicians.
Among the issues the candidates debated on, this was one of the more contentious ones.
Senator Brown touted his record of traveling across the state to see various sources of energy and making a decision on what to invest in. Meanwhile Republican Congressman Jim Renacci said he doesn’t want to see coal go by the wayside.
Brown said he wants to see Ohio invest in alternative energy methods like solar, which happen to be in the Toledo area.
“To create wealth in a state, you grow it, you mine it or you make it. Ohio does all three. We’re a good farm state, we’re an energy state and we’re a manufacturing state. I’ve seen it all in Ohio. I’ve seen the solar, I’ve seen the wind turbines in western Ohio in Paulding County, I’ve been to Toledo and many times been to First Solar, I know we mine coal in southeast Ohio,” said Senator Brown.
Renacci pushed back saying he thinks coal and natural gas jobs are too crucial to the economy, therefore those sources should not be forgotten altogether. we shouldn’t forget about those sources altogether.
“I’m a believer that you can’t just walk away from the coal, clean coal. You can’t walk away from the natural gas, clean natural gas that’s here and an asset in Ohio," said Representative Renacci.
However Renacci also mentioned that he does supports clean energy regardless of its source and that he wants to take an “all of the above” approach in regard to energy sources.
Senator Brown also noted his bipartisan record with Senators Manchin of West Virginia and Hatch of Utah on climate change policy.
The next debate between these two is Saturday in Columbus.