Inslee knocks Trump for wind turbine remarks

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) took aim at President Trump during a CNN town hall on Wednesday over Trump’s claim that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer.

Inslee, who has centered his 2020 presidential campaign on the issue of climate change, remarked that wind turbines “cause jobs,” not cancer.

{mosads}“We know how dire this situation is,” Inslee said. “…[W]ind turbines don’t cause cancer, they cause jobs,” he continued, drawing laughter and applause from the audience.

Jay Inslee on combating climate change, which he has made the marquee issue of his campaign: “We know how dire this situation is … Wind turbines don’t cause cancer, they cause jobs.” #InsleeTownHall https://t.co/D7sd64Ohb9 pic.twitter.com/PM1zNzITZa

— CNN (@CNN) April 11, 2019

His remarks came in response to Trump’s claim made during a speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s spring dinner earlier this month, during which he claimed that “they say the noise [from wind turbines] causes cancer.”

Inslee has called for climate change to be the primary issue of the 2020 election, pointing to recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that claim the world has roughly a dozen years to get carbon emissions under control or risk major changes to the Earth’s climate.

“We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change and we are the last generation that can do something about it. And we’ve got one shot and that’s the next administration,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union” last month.

“We have to have this be the primary, first, foremost and paramount duty of the next administration because the world’s on fire and we’ve got to act and we’ve got a climate denier in the White House,” Inslee added at the time.

Inslee faces a crowded field of contenders for the Democratic Party’s nomination, including high-profile candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Former Vice President Joe Biden is also widely expected to enter the race in the coming weeks.