Obama and McCain on Energy Policy

With gasoline prices between $3.38 and $4.06 per gallon, and electricity increasing 15% per year and therefore doubling every 5 years, energy is a major issue in the 2008 presidential election.

As President, McCain would focus on coal, oil, and nuclear power. Obama would focus on wind and solar, requiring U. S. utilities to get 25% of their electricity from solar and wind by 2025. McCain would require 20% by 2030. He would also reduce the “red tape” to speed construction of power plants and would build 45 nuclear plants by 2030, at which time he would be 94. Obama, who will be 69 in 2030, is concerned about the radioactive waste problem and other challenges of nuclear power. It does not seem likely that he will call for the construction of 45 new nuclear plants in the next 22 years.

McCain would give the oil companies $34 to $55 Billion over the next five years in subsidies and tax breaks (click here). He also spoke about giving drivers a $30 tax break this past summer. However, the money “given” to the drivers would have been made up in other taxes. Obama would give tax payers a $1,000 tax rebate based on a taxing “windfall” profits of the oil companies over the next 5 years.

McCain proposed a $300 million prize to the auto company that develops a next-generation car battery and would commit $2 billion annually to “clean-coal.” Obama would invest $150 billion over 10 years on low-carbon energy sources, double R&D spending on biomass, solar and wind resources; accelerate commercialization of plug-in hybrids, invest in low-emissions coal plants.

The U S Supreme Court ruled, in 2007, that the under the terms of the Clean Air Act, the EPA must regulate Carbon Dioxide. McCain favors a cap-and-trade CO2 approach. He sponsored a bill in 2007 to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2050. Obama would cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Popular Logistics prefers that we accept Al Gore’s challenge

: 100% Clean and Green by 2018. The details of the McCain and Obama positions, compiled by Ayesha Rascoe and Chris Baltimore, from their web-sites Reuters and the International Herald Tribune and Friends of the Earth, are below.

CLIMATE CHANGE

  • Obama would cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
  • McCain favors a cap-and-trade CO2 approach. He sponsored a bill in 2007 to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2050.

ELECTRICITY

  • Obama wants to require U.S. utilities to get 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2025.
  • McCain wants to reduce red tape to increase investment to upgrade the national grid; he wants the grid to have the capacity to charge electric cars on a mass scale and supports the use of SmartMeter technologies, which give customers a more precise picture of their energy consumption and encourage more cost-efficient use of power.

NUCLEAR POWER

  • Obama supports nuclear power, but says disposing of nuclear waste from U.S. plants and solving nuclear proliferation concerns are important. He opposes the Yucca Mountain waste management plan.
  • McCain wants to build 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, and wants 100 new nuclear plants built in U.S. He supports storing nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

ENERGY RESEARCH

  • Obama wants to invest $150 billion over 10 years on low-carbon energy sources, double R&D spending on biomass, solar and wind resources; accelerate commercialization of plug-in hybrids, invest in low-emissions coal plants.
  • McCain proposed offering a $300 million prize to the auto company that develops a next-generation car battery that will help America become independent from oil. He would commit $2 billion annually to advancing clean-coal technology.

OIL

  • Obama would reduce overall oil consumption by at least 35 per cent – or 10 million barrels per day – by 2030, to offset imports from OPEC nations.
  • McCain wants United States to be independent from foreign oil by 2025.

STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE

  • Earlier in the campaign, Obama opposed releasing oil from the reserve unless there was a severe supply disruption, but he now supports releasing 70 million barrels of light sweet crude, which would be replaced later with heavier crude.
  • McCain opposes releasing oil from the emergency stockpile unless there is a serious supply disruption.

OFFSHORE DRILLING

  • Obama opposed lifting the congressional moratorium on drilling in federal lands off U.S. coasts, but now says he would support limited offshore drilling as a part of broader legislation to help solve America’s energy problems.
  • McCain supports expanding offshore drilling to tap the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil on the U.S. outer continental shelf. “We can do this in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection,” he said.

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

  • Obama opposes ANWR drilling.
  • McCain does not support ANWR drilling “at this time.”

VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY

  • Obama would double fuel economy standards in 18 years; give automakers tax credits to retool plants and invest in advanced lightweight materials and new engines.
  • McCain has not specified CAFE targets. He voted against energy amendments in 2003 that would have boosted CAFE to 40 mpg by 2015. He supports increasing fines for car companies that do not meet CAFE standards and wants to provide tax credits based on vehicles’ carbon emissions.

OIL COMPANY TAXES

  • Obama supports a 5-year windfall tax on profits of large oil companies. The proceeds from the tax would pay for a $1,000 tax rebate for low- and middle-income families to help them cope with rising energy prices.
  • McCain opposes raising taxes on oil companies and wants to maintain government subsidies and tax breaks for the oil companies of $33 Billion to $55 Billion over the next five years.

GAS TAX HOLIDAY

  • Obama opposes temporarily lifting the federal tax on gasoline. He said the suspension of the tax would save each American family less than $30 and is not a real solution.
  • McCain proposed a summer holiday for taxes on gasoline paid by the consumer. He would divert moneys from other taxes to pay for transportation projects funded by the tax. The gas tax holiday would save each family $0.18 per gallon at the pump for the summer but result in other taxes to make up for the shortfall.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

  • Obama wants to create a $7,000 tax credit for purchasing “advanced” vehicles, one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015, boost the Renewable Fuel Standard to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030; build out ethanol distribution infrastructure, mandate that all new vehicles be “flexfuel” by end of his first term, produce 2 billion gallons of “cellulosic” ethanol from non-corn sources like switchgrass by 2013.
  • McCain favors ethanol incentives after opposing them in the past. He generally opposes subsidies and tariffs that distort marketplace; supports a $5,000 tax credit for purchasing zero carbon emission cars; other cars will receive tax credits on a graduated scale with lower carbon emission cars receiving higher tax credits; supports shifting to “flexfuel” vehicles.

SPECULATION ON FUTURES MARKETS

  • Obama supports fully closing the Enron Loophole. He proposed requiring U.S. energy futures to trade only on regulated exchanges; wants more data gathered on index funds and other similar types of investors in futures markets; backs legislation directing the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission to investigate proposals such as increasing margin requirements in the market.
  • McCain has expressed concern about excessive speculation in futures markets. He also supports closing the Enron Loophole, investigations into possible market manipulation and reforming the laws and regulations governing the oil futures market to make them more transparent and effective.