Responding to a weak statement on fossil fuel extraction from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday, protesters at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on Thursday demanded the former secretary of state "act on climate" if she wants their votes.
Clinton was questioned about her stance on banning fossil fuel extraction on public land, something she said she couldn't support "until we get alternatives into place," according to CNN.
In response, an audience member stood up and asked of Clinton: "Is your answer, and your refusal to take leadership on climate change, due to the fact that you have contributions from the fossil fuel industry in your campaign?"
Bloomberg reported Friday that lobbyists for big companies including ExxonMobil raised money for the Clinton campaign.
In fact, Paul Blumenthal and Kate Sheppard of the Huffington Post wrote on Friday, "[n]early all of the lobbyists bundling contributions for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign have at one time or another worked for the fossil fuel industry."
The Democratic frontrunner—whose progressive rival Bernie Sanders has noted the candidates' divergence on the urgency of climate change—denied that her stances on climate-related issues were based on campaign contributions.
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She said that while she knew that the "right answer in terms of getting votes" would have been to say, "You bet I will ban extraction on public lands," such an answer would be meaningless without a concrete plan for getting it done in Congress.
As she continued to respond, a number of agitated audience members began chanting: "Act on climate." Elsewhere in the audience, two people held up a sign that read, "Ban extraction on public land."
"That's OK, that's OK, that’s OK," Clinton said as they chanted. "I am all in favor of acting on climate."
Watch the full exchange below:
