Joe Biden ridicules Donald Trump's record on climate citing his claim that windmills cause cancer and LED lights make him 'look orange'

Joe Biden ridiculed President Trump's record on climate Tuesday, citing the president's claims that windmills cause cancer and LED lights make the former reality television star 'look orange.' 

'When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is hoax. When I think about climate change, the word I think of is jobs. Good paying, union jobs,' Biden said to a small audience of reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. 

The presumptive Democratic nominee was rolling out a $2 trillion green infrastructure plan that would serve dual roles of boosting the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic and helping combat climate change. 

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Joe Biden ripped into some of President Trump's previous statements about green energy, including Trump's claim that windmills cause cancer 

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President Trump, photographed at an East Room event Monday, said in December 2019 that he didn't like the 'new' bulbs because they made his look 'orange' 

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Joe Biden also blasted President Trump for claiming that windmills, a source of green energy, caused cancer 

Biden's campaign had rolled out some of the details of the plan earlier Tuesday, so the Democratic presidential candidate could devote most of the speech to going after Trump.  

'When Donald Trump thinks about renewable energy he sees windmills somehow causing cancer,' Biden said. 'When I think about these windmills, I see American manufacturing, American workers racing to dominate the global market.' 

On several occasions, Trump has claimed wind turbine noise 'causes cancer.' He also had blamed windmills for slaughtering bald eagles. 

'When Donald Trump talks about improving efficiency by retro-fitting lighting systems with LED bulbs - remember what he said? He said he doesn't like LED because quote- "the light's no good, I always look orange,' Biden also said. 

In December 2019, Trump expressed at a small business roundtable at the White House a disdain for the new-fangled bulbs  

'The new bulb is many times more expensive and I hate to say it, it doesn't make you look as good, of course, being a vain person that's important to me,' the president said at the time. 'It gives you an orange look, I don't want an orange look.' 

At the same event, Trump also griped that environmentally friendly toilets aren't up to the job. 

'People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once, they end up using more water,' Trump complained. 

Biden also picked on the White House for failing to ever hold a successful 'infrastructure week,' which early on became a joke among reporters because each time it was on the schedule, other drama occurred.    

'It seems like every few weeks when he needs a distraction from the latest charges of corruption in his staff or the conviction of high-ranking members of his administration and political apparatus, the White House announces "infrastructure week,"' Biden said. 

'How many times have you heard him say that?' the ex-veep mused. 'But he's never delivered. He never really even tried.'

Biden's plan called for $2 trillion to be spent in four years to invest in clean-energy infrastructure, with the pledge to cut carbon emissions from electrical power to zero in 15 years.  

His revised climate plan would require the country to be producing 100 per cent clean electricity by 2035 - a timeline borrowed from former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee.

The plan signifies a more aggressive approach on climate policy than he adopted during the Democratic presidential primary - a nod to progressives within the party who have been clamoring for swift action.

Inslee said it was a 'triple-A-rated clearn energy plan,' according to The New York Times, adding that Biden 'vigorously seized this moment.'   

Biden is calling for $2 trillion in new spending over four years, according to a copy of the plan released by his campaign. 

He had originally suggested spending $1.7 trillion over a decade.

The plan would seek to boost the U.S. auto industry through incentives for manufacturers to produce zero-emission electric vehicles. 

And it would look to build 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes and public-housing units.

Biden argued his climate plan will create millions of new jobs, an effort in part to win over skeptical union workers in the oil and gas industries. 

'It's a false choice to suggest we have to pick between our economy and the planet,' Biden said at an online fundraiser on Monday.

His plan also has a large environmental justice emphasis and would direct 40 per cent of clean-energy spending toward disadvantaged communities in the shadows of refineries and power plants.

Campaign advisers on Tuesday said the plan is a component of Biden's overall economic recovery package, which, they said, would represent the largest mobilization of public investment since World War Two.

They acknowledged that the climate plan was an effort to seize the issue from Trump, who Biden will face in the Nov. 3 election. 

Trump has frequently advocated for massive infrastructure legislation but has failed to send any kind of outline to the U.S. Congress.

The Trump campaign in a statement said Biden had 'fully caved in to the extreme left' with his energy plan and asked how Americans would afford it.

Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has rolled back environmental regulations and announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement.  

Many of Biden's proposals could be done through executive orders, aides said. 

But the large-scale outlays would require congressional approval.

Biden said on a press call Monday that he would consider killing the Senate filibuster to get more legislation passed. He was previously opposed to nuking the rule.  

Congress has authorized $3 trillion in spending this year already to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but Biden aides said the economy will likely require another large stimulus early next year.