In an interview with CNBC this morning, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) seemed to blame the “leave it in the ground” ideology of anti-energy extremists for election losses suffered by her party
December 5, 2016
Dem Senator Blames “Leave It In The Ground” Anti-Energy Extremists For Election Losses
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, North Dakota Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp seemed to blame the radical “leave it in the ground” ideology of anti-energy extremists for election losses suffered by her party:
JOE KERNAN: As a Democrat, do you think what I would call a somewhat radical activist energy policy, climate policy, has it served your party well over the last eight years? Did that have anything to do with the devastating losses in the last election?
SEN. HEIDI HEITKAMP: I think when you look at it, it’s so critically important that we live in the real world and not live in the world of ideology, and I can tell you that of the factions down there, there’s a large number of people who are ‘leave it in the ground,’ who think we should shut off fossil fuel. I think people who work in the fossil fuel industry feel that, whether they’re coal miners, oil workers, and I think that kind of alignment with ‘leave it in the ground’ and not looking at all of the above energy policy has had an affect.
Heitkamp’s comments come following the Obama Administration’s attempts to slow the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a pipeline that would create jobs but has been opposed by swaths of out-of-touch activists. If Democrats continue to acquiesce to these fringe groups, Heitkamp’s comments seem to indicate that the party will only suffer further from Americans that want to see an all of the above energy approach.