At Mountain Lake PBS’s Plattsburgh studios Oct. 24, it took a dense five minutes and 54 seconds of debate time to cover the various environmental policy stances of the three candidates to represent New York’s 21st Congressional District.

Environmental policy tends to be a leading issue in this northern New York district, which includes the sprawling wilderness of the 9,375-square-mile Adirondack State Park. The Adirondacks are slowly recovering from decades of acid rain and mercury emitted by Midwest power plants that burn coal, oil and gas – pollution that was slowed by the 1990 Clean Air Act and subsequent regulations.

Incumbent Republican Elise Stefanik, unlike her Democratic and Republican predecessors, has voted to free those power plants from new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, saying the Obama administration should have gone through Congress instead. Those and other votes drew her just a 9 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters in 2015, even though she also pushed for alternative energy and against invasive species.

Throw in a year that has been the warmest on record (dating to 1880, according to NASA) and a fiery Green Party candidate who returned after a strong showing in 2014, and a combative situation was set for the campaign, reaching a climax on stage in Plattsburgh.

Stefanik has been on the defensive on this issue all campaign from Democrat Mike Derrick and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello. The 32-year-old has described herself as not afraid to vote independently from other Republicans in Congress, including on the environment, but she has remained steadfast on the importance of a “balance” between environmental and economic concerns.

“Our environment is our economy in the North Country,” she said at the Oct. 24 debate. “I’ve supported the tax credit for solar and wind energy development. I fought to ensure in our (Department of Defense) budget we are able to pursue contracts with renewable energy sources, such as biomass.

“But the key is we need to pursue policies that will not raise our energy prices, which are costly, particularly for our seniors in this district.”

This year Stefanik also introduced the Stamp Out Invasive Species Act, which would direct proceeds from a special postage stamp to programs that work to combat invasive species.

Stefanik says she supports an “all of the above” national energy policy that increases American-made energy and reduces dependency on foreign oil, supposedly while protecting the environment and bringing down costs. She is open to expanding energy exploration, whether that be drilling for oil and natural gas “where it can be reached,” utilizing solar and wind or developing more “clean coal” and nuclear energy.

But Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, and the Glens Falls baker Funiciello have been unrelenting in their criticism of her environmental record.

The fiery Funiciello is at the other end of the spectrum from Stefanik when it comes to the environment. He’s denounced Democrats just as much if not more than Republicans on issues such as climate change. He’s a rising star of his party who gave an impassioned seven-minute speech at the modest Green National Convention in Houston in early August.

Funiciello has been unwavering of his support for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, and the party’s “Green New Deal” idea is at the core of his environmental and economic policy. It’s an idea Greens say is similar to the Depression-era policies of President Franklin Roosevelt, in which Americans were put to work on national infrastructure projects. It includes investment in energy conservation, public and private buildings, renewable energy projects and mass transit. It also includes a replacement of inadequate telephone lines in rural areas with fiber optic lines that, Greens say, would spur an explosion of technology startups.

Funiciello and other Greens claim it would create several million “living wage” jobs. It’s this idea juxtaposed to Stefanik’s idea of “balance” that resulted in his pungent rebuttal to Stefanik at the Plattsburgh debate.

“I would just like to say that we keep hearing the word ‘economics’ – Elise has said it a number of times,” Funiciello said. “In relation to the environment and climate change, (famous Canadian environmental activist) David Suzuki said recently that economics is – and I’m not going to repeat the word, but it has to do with excrement coming from a cow’s behind. That’s what he called economics, as long as it does not include the environment.

“If you have a bunch of circles and tables that are not including the environment,” Funiciello continued, “it’s just calling our death an externality? Then those economics should not matter. Every single bill passed by Congress should from here on in have a climate change contingent in it where we are trying to reduce carbon.”

Funiciello has wielded a two-way attack against his Republican and Democratic opponents on environmental policy, including a scathing critique of Hilary Clinton. He dubbed the Democratic presidential candidate “the fracking queen of the world” at the Oct. 24 debate.

“She is going to tell us she is going to do something about climate change?” Funiciello said. “I’m personally not going to believe that for a second. That’s called lying. We need to stop lying to ourselves, ’cause climate change is too serious.”

One of the ways Funiciello differs from Derrick is his connecting the root of climate change with meat and dairy farming, as he’s pointed to reports of livestock agriculture being the primary cause of greenhouse gases. In this Funiciello is in direct contrast with farmers in the district, particularly dairy farmers. Derrick dubbed it later last week “not realistic” for the region.

“We don’t do enough for our apple and dairy farmers,” Derrick said at the Oct. 24 debate.

Derrick said he would work to pass a national energy policy that would transition from fossil fuels to “one that favors green power.” He said there are creative ways to do it using market forces.

He then pivoted to scolding Stefanik.

“Let’s be very clear here,” he said as he looked into the television camera. “Elise Stefanik has the second worst environmental voting record in New York state – 9 percent, as figured by the League of Conservation Voters. How she has voted and what she says are entirely different, and when we have this wonderful environment here in New York state, including the Adirondack Park, that is something which is absolutely inconsistent with representation in this district.”

“I have the 13th-most independent record when it comes to Republicans in Congress,” Stefanik retorted. “While Mike is worried about scorecards from Washington, D.C. – of an organization where he didn’t even earn their endorsement because we have a positive working relationship – I am working with environmental groups in this district to make sure we pursue the correct approach, which is a balanced approach: protecting our jobs while also protecting our environment.”

Derrick stressed late last week that he feels the Green Party “has some very admirable ideas” and wanted to work with its members, but he said Greens “wouldn’t accomplish anything” due to their small numbers nationally.

Derrick says he is against fracking, which contrasts with Stefanik, supports the expansion of wind and solar power in the North Country, and thinks the problems Funiciello raises about dairy and meat farming could be mitigated.

“Right here in Peru, where methane is being captured and used to generate power on site (at Adirondack Farms), those are the kinds of solutions that will allow us to protect our environment in several ways and maintain a very important part of the food supply and economy up here.”

Funiciello has characterized Derrick as a Republican masquerading as a Democrat as well as a carpetbagger of sorts, returning to his childhood home after living in Colorado in recent years. Derrick was enrolled as a Republican before he registered as a Democrat on March 7, 2015, as he geared up for his campaign launch that June.

Funiciello maintains that the Greens are the party of genuine interest in the environment and that Democrats like Clinton and Derrick aren’t the answer.

“This isn’t taking a buck out of the honor box at the local retail store or church,” he said at the Oct. 24 debate. “This is messing around with our ability to survive as a species on the planet. Hilary is not going to be able to do anything constructive about it just because Bernie (Sanders) scared her for a couple of months.”