Joe Biden vowed Thursday he would move to transition away from oil and replace it with wind and solar by 2050 – as President Donald Trump claimed he knows more about wind energy than the Democratic nominee, as he lamented windmills 'kill all the birds'
'Would you close down the oil industry?' Trump asked Biden during a back-and-forth on the environment and energy sources at the debate in Nashville, Tennessee Thursday evening.
'I would transition from the oil industry, yes,' Biden affirmed, vowing to put a process in place to do so by 2050 if he were elected.
'Oh, a transition. That's a big statement,' Trump said.
Biden shot back: 'It is a big statement.'
'Why would you do that?' the debate moderator, NBC News' Kristen Welker, cut in.
'Because the oil industry pollutes it significantly,' Biden said. 'Because it has to be replaced by renewable energy – over time, over time. And I've stopped giving to the oil industry, I would stop giving them federal subsidies. You won't give federal subsidies to the gas -- excuse me, to solar and wind. Why are we giving them to the oil industry?'
Democratic nominee Joe Biden vowed at the debate Thursday to move away from the oil industry toward solar and wind to achieve zero emissions by 2050
President Trump said that was a 'very big statement' as he claimed he knows more about wind power than Biden
'We actually do give them to solar and wind and that is the biggest statement in terms of business, that is the biggest statement because basically what you're saying – he is destroying the oil industry. Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio?' Trump lamented.
Biden assured reporters before boarding his plane at the Nashville airport after the debate that people in the oil industry would not lose their jobs because there would be more created in the transition toward renewable energy.
'Eventually we're going to have to go to oil, but we're not getting rid of fossil fuels,' Biden clarified from his debate remarks. 'We're getting rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels, but we're not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.'
When pushed on if people would lose their jobs, Biden said, 'Well, they're not going to lose their jobs. And besides, they're gonna...there are a lot more jobs that are gonna be created in other alternatives.'
The president boasted Thursday that he knows 'more about wind' power than Biden, as he reupped his peculiar claim that windmills 'kill all the birds'.
'We are energy independent,' Trump assured after Biden claimed the 'fastest growing industry in America' is solar energy and wind.
'I know more about wind than you do,' the president touted.
'It's extremely expensive, kills all the birds, is very intermittent, it's got a lot of problems,' Trump said of wind energy and windmills
'It's extremely expensive, kills all the birds, is very intermittent, it's got a lot of problems, and they happen to make the windmills in both Germany and China. And the fumes coming up, if you are a believer in carbon emission, the fumes coming up to make these massive windmills is more than anything were talking about with natural gas, which is very clean.'
'Find me the science that says that,' Biden countered.
The former vice president vowed while remaining on the topic of the environment and energy, that his plan would bring the total emissions to zero by 2050.
'We have to move toward a net zero emissions,' Biden said. 'The first place to do that by the year 2035 is an energy production. By 2050, totally.'
As Trump went all in against wind energy, he praised solar for being the better option of the two, but claimed it's not 'quite there yet.'
'It's not powerful yet to really run our big, beautiful factories that we need to compete with the world,' Trump claimed.
'False,' Biden cut-in.
Trump also railed against Biden for his vow to ban fracking, which the former vice president has claimed was taken out of context.
'He takes everything out of context, but the point is, we have to move toward a net zero emissions,' Biden said.
Trump slammed the idea as a 'pipe dream.'
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