Dear Friends,

When it comes to the climate crisis, who’s the worst presidential candidate?

That’s easy: Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Climate activists also have reservations about Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, but hands-down, Klobuchar is the worst. She claims to want to address climate change, but emphatically supports the continued build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Amy Klobuchar laughs as Samantha Kuhn presents her with the “DAPL Dodger Award” before the Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner last June. We suspect Klobuchar didn’t quite understand that the award was not a compliment.

Sorry, Senator. You can’t be pro-fracking and pro-pipeline and say you’re going to address the climate crisis. Since the corporate media have ignored Klobuchar’s track record, it’s up to us to get the word out.

Check out the Center for Biological Diversity’s climate scorecard. Klobuchar has the worst score. Given all we’ve learned about her in Iowa over the past year through Bold Iowa’s intensive Climate Bird Dog initiative, none of us should be the least bit surprised.

May 25, Iowa Falls. Samantha Kuhn asks Klobuchar about her stand on pipelines. Klobuchar responds, “We need to greatly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and eventually we won’t need these pipelines if we do that in the right way — or we’ll need them in a limited way. Because I think for quite a while we’re going to see the use of gas and the use of oil, and so we’re going to continue to have some of that going on for many years in the future.” (emphasis added)

June 9, Cedar Rapids. As part of Bold Iowa’s Climate Awards (three went to candidates who are strong on climate, three to candidates who aren’t), Samantha Kuhn presents Klobuchar with the “DAPL Dodger Award” outside the Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner. Judging by her reaction (see photo), Samantha suspected that Sen. Klobuchar didn’t quite understand that the award was not a compliment.

August 10, Des Moines. I ran into Sen. Klobuchar at the Iowa State Fair. The video that Kathy Byrnes shot of our interaction says volumes. Klobuchar is as friendly as can be until I mention the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), at which point she simply walks away. Klobuchar did that to me on another occasion as well.

November 7, Johnston. Kathy Byrnes asks Klobuchar about her stand on DAPL and Line 3. Klobuchar again dodges the DAPL question, making some vague reference to Standing Rock. Regarding Line 3, she speaks about “calling for it to be delayed so that there’s an environmental review,” even as her track record and other public statements have made it clear to Minnesotans that she would never buck Big Oil’s interests.

Beyond climate change, environmentalists in Minnesota are roundly disappointed with Klobuchar’s stand on a number of key issues, including working to remove wolves from the list of endangered species. She has also been on the wrong side of mining, lead, timber, food, and trade.

The long and short of it is, when it comes to securing our future against the onslaught of climate chaos, no Democratic candidate inspires less confidence than Klobuchar. If you’re among the Iowa Caucus goers who rank climate as your #1 concern, consider anyone but Klobuchar, or, in my opinion, consider Tom Steyer, who’s been a climate activist for over a decade and is the only candidate pledged to declare a climate emergency on Day One.