Contrary to Palin's blather today about how McCain is the wind, solar, nuclear, coal, all around new-energy guy, he's not any such thing.
Showing posts with label obama energy plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obama energy plan. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
McCain is Big Oil's Maverick
Thomas Friedman says McCain is more of the same, especially with Sarah Palin by his side. Do we really want a president to continue the legacy of oil, oil, oil, no matter what the cost? And we've paid big prices-- not just at the pump.
NYT: With his choice of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change, for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil.
Given the fact that Senator McCain deliberately avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand our wind and solar industries, and given his support for lowering the gasoline tax in a reckless giveaway that would only promote more gasoline consumption and intensify our addiction to oil, and given his desire to make more oil-drilling, not innovation around renewable energy, the centerpiece of his energy policy — in an effort to mislead voters that support for drilling today would translate into lower prices at the pump today — McCain has forfeited any claim to be a green candidate.
So please, students, when McCain comes to your campus and flashes a few posters of wind turbines and solar panels, ask him why he has been AWOL when it came to Congress supporting these new technologies.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Obama Smart and Pragmatic on Energy
The media, the left, the right, have all predictably taken up sides on Obama's move to consider a bipartisan energy package. If I hear "flip flop" one more time, oh never mind, I'm sure I'll hear it until election day.
As if any one group could ever have everything their way. The Bush conservatives came close and look what happened.
But what a smart move on Obama's part to show a willingness to compromise because it demonstrates that he wants to accomplish goals as president, rather than just assert democratic authority over the republicans.
RCP: But I do think Barack Obama's about face on offshore oil drilling is good news, not least because it suggests the man is serious about being a pragmatic, effective leader. (Rather than stifle the buzz, I'll ignore his phony comment that his shift really isn't a shift at all. It's the heat of the campaign. Two-thirds of the stuff he and McCain are saying on any given day is liable to be preposterous political spin.)
"We have to compromise," Obama told the Palm Beach Post. "The Republicans and the oil companies have been really beating the drums on drilling. And so we don't want gridlock. We want to get something done." Yes, exactly right. Desperately-needed energy-policy reform has gone nowhere in Washington because the baby-boom political culture appears to abhor compromise of any kind. If gridlock and failure are the result, so what? Better that an entire nation should suffer than a single self-satisfied boomer activist should have to settle for half a loaf on a "matter of principle."
Obama's energy plan gets support from analysts:
CNN: Overall, analysts welcomed Obama's plan, which included both short-term and long-term proposals. But they stressed that for the plan would need bipartisan support to succeed.
Obama said a short-term proposal, like selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, "has lowered gas prices within two weeks" in the past.
For his proposed 10-year, $150 billion overhaul of the nation's energy system to get bipartisan support, he's willing to compromise on his earlier stance against offshore drilling by allowing a "limited amount" of drilling.
His proposal also includes retooling the U.S. auto industry to build more fuel-efficient cars, doubling the use of renewable resources by 2012, improving the safety and environmental impact of nuclear power and reducing the use of electricity, among other ideas.
Obama Energy Plan to Kick Oil Addiction
Here is what Obama announced today in Lansing. See video here. Here is the text of his speech.
The highlights:
Providing short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
Helping create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
Within 10 years, saving more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
Putting 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
Ensuring 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
Implementing an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
The highlights:
Providing short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
Helping create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
Within 10 years, saving more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
Putting 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
Ensuring 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
Implementing an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)