By Evie Fordham

August 2, 2019 - Yikes. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s proclamation that fossil fuels would have no place in his administration during Wednesday night’s debate was a far cry from his 2012 declaration that “we desperately need coal.”

CNN’s Dana Bash asked Biden if there was any place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in his administration.

Biden says no place for coal in his administration.

“No, we would work it out. We would make sure it’s eliminated and no more subsidies … for any fossil fuel,” he responded.

Biden whistled a different tune about the country’s energy sources while in Ohio in 2012.

“Look, it’s all of the above for us. We desperately need coal, and we need it to get cleaner and cleaner. We desperately need all the source of energy,” Biden said.

He said he supported “clean coal” plants in 2008, but in China, not in the U.S., reported Politico.

Biden’s fossil fuel stance comes as many candidates are sympathetic to the Green New Deal. One candidate, Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, is running as the so-called “climate candidate.”

“We have one administration left … to restrain this monster,” Inslee told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in March. “When your house is on fire, you go grab the bucket and you fight the fire, even though your lawn needs mowing and you haven’t answered the mail. That’s the situation we’re in. This is a one-time chance.”