ELECTION 2008: ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES OF THE CANDIDATES

1. ELECTION 2008: ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES OF THE CANDIDATES

2. NAME: Barack Hussein Obama • Born August 4, 1961, in Hawaii • Grew up in Hawaii, and spent a few years of childhood in Indonesia • Graduated from Columbia University in 1983 • Moved to Chicago in 1985 and became a community organizer; earned law degree from Harvard in 1991; returned to Chicago and became a civil rights lawyer and taught constitutional law at University of Chicago • Ran for Illinois State Senate and served for 8 years; ran and won Illinois Senate seat in Congress in 2004; spoke at 2004 Democratic National Convention • Began run for Presidency in 2007

3. The Obama-Biden Comprehensive New Energy for America plan will: • Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump • Help 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 save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. • Put 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. • Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. • Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

4. Provide Short-term Relief to American Families • Enact a windfall profits tax to provide a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to American families • Crack down on excessive energy speculation • Swap oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to cut prices • Eliminate Our Current Imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years • Increase fuel economy standards 4 % per year while providing $4 billion for domestic automakers to retool to produce these vehicles • Get 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 • Create a new $7,000 tax credit for purchasing advanced vehicles • Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard • A “Use It or Lose it” approach to existing oil and gas leases • Promote responsible domestic production of oil and natural gas

5. Create Million of New Green Jobs • Ensure 10% of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2025. • Deploy the cheapest, cleanest, fasted energy source– energy efficiency • Weatherize one million homes annually • Develop and deploy clean coal technology • Prioritize the construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline • Reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050 • Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 • Make the U.S. a leader on climate change by reengaging with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and creating a Global Energy Forum of the world’s largest emitters to focus on global energy and environmental issues

6. Groups that endorse Barack Obama: • League of Conservation Voters • (Obama earned a 96 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters during his first two years in the Senate.) • Friends of the Earth Action • Environment America • (26 state organizations, including Environment New Jersey) • The Sierra Club • Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund • Humane Society Legislative Fund

7. John Sidney McCain • Born August 29, 1936 in Panama • Attended about 20 schools • Graduated from U.S. Naval Academy (1958) • POW for 5 ½ years (October 26, 1967- March 14, 1973) • Served as Navy’s liason to the Senate (1977) • Married Cindy Lou Hensley (1980) • Elected U.S. Senate- Ariz. (1987) • Presidential Candidate (2000) • Presidential Candidate (2008)

8. A phase-out of our reliance on foreign oil and reducing of carbon emissions over the next 40 years • An increase in domestic drilling and oil exploration as well as spending $2 billion annually towards clean coal technologies. • Further enforce the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) with higher penalties • Reward $300 million in a contest to develop a battery package pushing the efficiency of hybrids far into the future • $5,000 tax credit for every person purchasing a zero emissions automobile. • Hopes to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 60% below 1990 levels by 2050 is attainable.

9. McCain’s Cap and Trade Plan • Market participants are allotted total permits equal to the cap on greenhouse gas emissions • If they can invent, improve, or acquire a way to reduce their emissions, they can sell their extra permits for cash • The profit motive will coordinate the efforts of venture capitalists, corporate planners, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists on the common motive of reducing emissions

10. NUCLEAR ENERGY…IS IT PART OF THE ANSWER? • 104 active nuclear power plants in U.S. • No new nuclear plants have been built since 1973 (Three Mile Island accident was 1979) • U.S. govt. was supposed to start accepting spent fuel for burial in 1998, but now predicts 2017 (Yucca Mountain site in Nevada still being tested) • (NY Times) Obama:“I think we do have to look at nuclear, and what we've got to figure out is can we store the material properly? Can we make sure that they're secure? Can we deal with the expense? Because the problem is, is that a lot of our nuclear industry, it reinvents the wheel. Each nuclear power plant that is proposed has a new design, has—it, it has all kinds of changes, there are all sorts of cost overruns. So it has not been an effective option. That doesn't mean that it can't be an effective option, but we're going to have to figure out storage and safety issues. And my attitude when it comes to energy is there's no silver bullet. We've got to be—we've, we've got to look at every possible option.” –Obama on Meet the Press, May 4, 2008 McCain: “Of the two, McCain is the most comfortable with the topic. As a Navy pilot, he landed on aircraft carriers, which today are essentially floating nuclear-powered cities. McCain calls nuclear "one of the cleanest, safest and most reliable energy sources on Earth." "If we want to arrest global warming, then nuclear energy is a powerful, powerful ally in that cause," he said in a May speech. McCain's enthusiasm for nuclear has put him in unusual territory for a Republican: He's been praising the French, who generate 80 percent of their power from nuclear.” -NPR News, July 21, 2008

11. NUCLEAR POWER • Mc Cain • Strong advocate, sees it as essential to combating global warming • “One of the cleanest, safest, and most reliable energy sources on earth” • In the Senate, he voted to send waste to Yucca Mountain • In the campaign, has proposed building an international repository, making Yucca Mountain unnecessary • Obama • Nuclear should not be taken off the table • Would support new reactors if four issues could be solved: safety, waste storage, vulnerability to terrorist attack, and weapons proliferation concerns. • Opposes plans to send waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92690120

12. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24445166/page/4/ http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy_more#relief http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/21/league_of_conservation_voters.html http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/environmental_group_endorses_o.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/24nuke.html?pagewanted=2&sq=Barack%20Obama%20nuclear%20power&st=cse&scp=3 http://www.johnmccain.com/