The three candidates running for Oregon’s 4th Congressional District faced off in a debate Friday at the City Club of Eugene.
Topics included education funding, trade, military spending and health care. On the issue of climate change, the candidates differed. Incumbent Democrat Peter DeFazio says his Republican challenger Art Robinson thinks climate change is a hoax.
Defazio: “And he’s even said ‘Burn the coal fields, we will benefit from the carbon dioxide.’ Wow! That’s the kind of scientist we want to send to congress. Really?”
Robinson, a retired chemist, says he has carefully studied the issue.
Robinson: “There is no proof that humans are significantly affecting the climate. That’s scientific fact.”
Pacific Green Party candidate Mike Beilstein says climate change is real and there is a way to slow it down.
Beilstein: “Establish a nationwide, and ultimately through treaty in every country, have a price on carbon. And to have that price that’s paid, the fee that’s collected, returned to individuals to households.”
You can hear the City Club debate with the three candidates vying for the 4th Congressional seat Monday evening at 6:30 on KLCC.