VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) — The Chesapeake Bay Foundation held a forum so that Virginia's 2nd District Candidates could answer questions on their stance on environmental issues.
Dr. Quentin Kidd, from CNU, moderated the forum giving incumbent Scott Taylor and his challenger Elaine Luria similar questions throughout the evening. On the issue of sea level rise, both candidates recognized that it’s a serious problem.
"You know in this region, it's really a national security issue, and I really think we need to have an advocate in Washington who will go with this as a national security issue. We really need to seek strong investments in our infrastructure,” said Luria.
Taylor noted he has done work on the hill focused on solutions to the problem.
"We are the second most vulnerable area in the nation to recurrent flooding and sea level rise. We were able to put language in that is now law that prioritizes DOD to work with localities and states to deal with access roads,” said Taylor.
When it came to offshore drilling Luria said she's permanently opposed to it.
"It's a national defense issue to interfere with military readiness, the localities Virginia Beach and Norfolk, have passed resolutions to say we don't like offshore drilling, and not only that- but it's bad for the environment,” said Luria.
It's one of several topics the candidates agreed on.
"I'm against it, I'm against offshore drilling, I think we need to make that very clear. We actually proposed two amendments to ban it off the coast of Virginia and bandit off the east coast,” said Taylor.
Kidd then asked the candidates on their feelings toward wind turbines, and both agreed again.
"I think that wind is an investment that we can make and make long-term greener, cleaner, energy,” said Luria.
Taylor also thought they would create jobs in the area.
“I support anything that makes sense. It creates high paying mechanical jobs- because to work on them turbines it's high paying. So if we do move in that direction, and I think we also need some skills development to teach people on how to work on turbines,” said Taylor.
Watch the full forum here:
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