Global warming crusader Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign spent nearly $185,000 in 2015 on a company that charters private jets, according to federal election disclosures.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure forms show the Vermont senator’s campaign paid the company Air Charter Team $184,841.92 during 2015. Air Charter Team is a “provider of private, corporate, and business airplane charter services throughout the world,” according to the company’s website.
“Our team of professionals can provide you and your associates an aviation solution for any occasion. No matter what type of aircraft you or your organization requires, we deliver it with service that simply can’t be beat!”
Source: Screenshot of Sanders’ FEC disclosure
Sanders paying a jet chartering company so much money sort of flies in the face of his anti-fossil fuels stance. The senator has been outspoken in his opposition to coal, gas and oil — last year he even pledged not to take any money from coal, oil or gas companies.
Sanders has promised to move the U.S. towards getting all its power from green energy, which would include backing President Barack Obama’s administration regulations on power plants and slapping a tax on carbon dioxide emissions.
“It’s time for a political revolution that takes on the fossil fuel billionaires, accelerates our transition to clean energy and finally puts people before the profits of polluters,” Sanders said in a statement in December.
The Sanders campaign, however, told The Daily Caller News Foundation all the chartered flights they buy include “carbon offsets” — these are payments made to companies that then buy green energy or even plant trees. The idea is to “offset” any emissions you created by funding green programs.
It should be noted that carbon offsets don’t actually mean the emissions caused from your activities are taken out of the atmosphere. In fact, many experts have argued carbon offsets are really feel-good gestures that do nothing to benefit the environment.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also promised to run a carbon neutral campaign by purchasing carbon offsets, but reporters quickly discovered the Clinton campaign had not lived up to its promise.
CNN reported in October that “[t]here are no records of the Clinton campaign purchasing carbon offsets in their latest Federal Election Commission reports released earlier this month,” adding “multiple campaign aides did not refute CNN’s reporting that offsets have yet to be purchased.”
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