Hurricane Sandy. Courtesy of NOAA
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term, citing the importance of addressing climate change in the aftermath of the devastating impact of tropical storm Sandy earlier this week.
“Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be — given this week’s devastation — should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action,” Bloomberg wrote in an op-ed for Bloomberg View
“We need leadership from the White House — and over the past four years, President Barack Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption, including setting higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. His administration also has adopted tighter controls on mercury emissions, which will help to close the dirtiest coal power plants (an effort I have supported through my philanthropy), which are estimated to kill 13,000 Americans a year.”
Bloomberg said that while Mitt Romney once supported taking action on climate change, he has since “reversed course, abandoning the very cap-and-trade program he once supported.”
“We need determined leadership at the national level to move the nation and the world forward,” he continued. “I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.”
Bloomberg added that he would have supported the 1994 or 2003 version of Mitt Romney were he running for president.
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