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Land, Peters Disagree In First Appearance

The Republican and Democratic candidates for Michigan’s open US Senate seat pitched themselves to business people at a conference on Mackinac Island Wednesday.

  As we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, one of the issues that Congressman Gary Peters and former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land disagreed on was how to deal with greenhouse gasses. 

Peters and Land made back-to-back appearances at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac conference.

Next week, the federal government is expected to release new cap-and-trade rules to discourage carbon emissions. Peters – the Democrat -- supports cap and trade. He says it will help move the country toward using alternative fuels.

“If we’re going to deal with climate change, which I believe we have to, let’s do it in a way that really transforms economies in ways that creates hundreds, thousands of good-paying middle-class jobs in America,” he says.

Land – the Republican -- says cap-and-trade will actually cost jobs.

       “Federal policies are threatening our access to secure and affordable energy,” she says.

Land says energy policy should focus on more domestic sources of oil and gas, such as building the Keystone pipeline.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The (Pontiac, MI) Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.
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