Bush/Cheney's 2000 Platform - Wonder Whether McCain Will Just Xerox

[Median Democrat]

The one thing that really needs to be pointed out about John McCain is that his rhetoric regarding energy sounds just like that of Bush and Cheney, however, given the heavy support of oil companies, it is unlikely that any meaningful steps towards reducing oil consumption will take place under John McCain. Here is an interesting article discussing progress on various items in the 2000 GOP platform:

http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/06/far04018.html

And here is an excerpt from the 2000 GOP Platform regarding energy and energy independence. Is there any difference between what McCain is saying now, and what Bush said in 2000:

http://patriotpost.us/histdocs/platforms/republican/rep.2000.html

/snip

Energy

What happened? Eight years ago, the nation was energy confident. Our standing in the Middle East was at its zenith. The oil cartel was in retreat; gasoline was affordable, even as automotive progress reduced emissions from cars. Today, gas prices have skyrocketed, and oil imports are at all-time highs. Foreign oil now accounts for one-third of our total trade deficit. Meanwhile, domestic oil production has fallen 17 percent over the last eight years, as vast areas of the continental U.S. have been put off limits to energy leasing — though we depend on oil and natural gas for 65 percent of our energy supply. Additional oil reserves and deposits of low-sulfur coal may be out of reach because of unilateral designation of new national monuments.

By any reasonable standard, the Department of Energy has utterly failed in its mission to safeguard America’s energy security. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been no better, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been shutting off America’s energy pipeline with a regulatory blitz that has only just begun. In fact, 36 oil refineries have closed in just the last eight years, while not a single new refinery has been built in this country in the last quarter-century. EPA’s patchwork of regulations has driven fuel prices higher in some areas than in others and has made energy supplies no longer fungible. What meets EPA’s standards in one city may not be legally sold in another. The result has been localized shortages and sharp price spikes, as suppliers scramble to get acceptable fuels to the markets where they are needed.

Environmental concerns are not at the heart of the matter. In fact, the current administration has turned its back on the two sources that produce virtually all of the nation’s emission-free power: nuclear and hydro, the sources for 30 percent of the country’s electricity. Because of cumbersome federal relicensing of hydro and nuclear operations, we face the prospect of increasing emissions and dirtier air. Meanwhile, nuclear plants are choking on waste because the current administration breached its contract to remove it — and then vetoed bipartisan legislation to store it at a safe, permanent repository for which the taxpayers have already paid $7 billion. At the same time, power-producing dams are being torn down, by federal edict, in energy-short areas, and the Pacific Northwest is their next target. Breaching dams would not only raise electric rates but would deny western farmers irreplaceable water for irrigation and a cost-effective means of moving their crops to West Coast ports. We should develop and use technologies that will help entrance salmon runs while keeping the dams in place.

It’s a man-made nightmare, but at last the public is waking up and demanding change. What is at stake, after all, is not just the price we pay to heat and cool our homes. What is at stake is the nation’s New Economy, which relies heavily on electricity for its infrastructure and on petroleum for its trade. Affordable energy, the result of Republican policies in the 1980s, helped create the New Economy. If we do not carefully plan for our energy needs, the entire economy could be significantly weakened. The Republican Congress has moved to deregulate the electricity industry and empower consumers through a competitive market — but congressional Democrats are holding up the process, and the administration has provided no leadership. America needs a national energy strategy — and a Republican president will work with congressional Republicans to enact their National Energy Security Act. That strategy will:

· Increase domestic supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas. Our country does have ample energy resources waiting to be developed, and there is simply no substitute for an increase in their domestic production.

· Improve federal oil and gas lease permit processing and management, including coalbed methane.

· Provide tax incentives for production.

· Promote environmentally responsible exploration and development of oil and gas reserves on federally-owned land, including the Coastal Plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

· Offer a degree of price certainty to keep small domestic stripper producers in operation.

· Advance clean coal technology.

· Expand the tax credit for renewable energy sources to include wind and open-loop biomass facilities, and electricity produced from steel cogeneration.

· Maintain the ethanol tax credit.

· Provide a tax incentive for residential use of solar power.



This agenda will reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, help consumers by lowering energy prices, and result in lower carbon emissions than would result from the current administration’s policies. To protect consumers against seasonal price spikes, that legislation also authorizes a home heating oil reserve for the Northeastern States and allows expensing of costs for its storage. It will also make low-income housing more energy-efficient. All in all, it is a dramatic reversal of the nation’s present course, and that’s just what America needs: a balanced portfolio of energy options that is stable, secure, and affordable, with minimal impact on the environment.

/snip

[jcla]

1. McShame will ask an aide to xerox it...

at one of his seven houses. All the while the oil companies will open drilling off shore in California and in National Parks. McShame wants tp keep us oil dependent. Sheesh. He doesn't care about Global warming, weening the US off oil or cleaning the air... he can always move to another house....or die of old age. It is the rest of us that will have to pay for his policies.