Greens to run ads backing Sanders in Iowa, New Hampshire

A major environmental group is launching television advertisements in Iowa and New Hampshire to promote Sen. Bernie Sanders’s green credentials.

The ads from Friends of the Earth Action will begin airing next week in Iowa in advance of the Feb. 1 caucuses, the first votes of the presidential race, and then run in New Hampshire before its primary election.

{mosads}Though Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, is not mentioned by name, the ads implicitly contrast her policy positions with Sanders’s.

“Bernie Sanders had the courage to stand up against the Keystone pipeline from day one. He introduced the bill to keep fossil fuels in the ground on federal land and he opposes unjust trade agreements that damage our planet,” the narrator says. “It is why Friends of the Earth Action urges you to support Bernie Sanders for president.”

The group endorsed Sanders on Aug. 1, the first major endorsement by a green group in the Democratic race.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, another major player in campaign funding, has lined up behind Clinton.

Clinton declined to endorse or reject Keystone XL until shortly before President Obama’s November action denying a permit for its construction. Her delay was a sore point among members of the environmental movement.