5 ideas for Barack Obama on the environment

Under number 4 should be the Pebble MIne in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. This mine if allowed to proceed will destroy thousands of acres of pristine wilderness, miles of pristine streams and rivers and destroy Alaskas Salmon Run as we now know it. Gov. Sarah Paline has not done anything to stop this rape of the land.

With gas going down 2 dollars a gallon recently, now is the perfect time to increase the gas tax. A 20 cent/gallon gas tax would encourage the conversation we saw when gas was higher as well as provide money for a major increase in public transportation initiatives. This should include large increases in amtrak as well as intercity subway and light rail.

I have to agree with #2. I'm for increasing taxes as long as it's for a good cause. Rebuilding a horrible subway/light rail system is way up there. Not only is the MBTA crumbling, but I know Chicago's TA isn't doing too well either

5. Restore scientific credibility and legitimacy at the Environmental Protection Agency.

It would also be great to put "environmental decision-making at the [State] level back on solid scientific footing" considering the atrocious job the Commonwealth has done with the Crow Lane landfill in Newburyport and the Wood Waste facility in Everett.

Permanently ban offshore drilling. It will not help oil prices, now or in the near future; by the near future, we can have more than enough truly clean energy to overcome future energy needs as well a scover much of our current needs if we invest in these technologies now instead of spending money drilling.

Nuclear energy development would be the most efficient way to clean the environment and make the US energy independent. Read Gwyneth Cravens' "The Power to Save the World". Build a bridge to nuclear power by drilling in Alaska and offshore, include major oil production increases in the withdrawal negotiations with Iraq, and give tax incentives for renewable energy. Reduce road speed to 55mph and add a fuel tax indexed to the price of oil.

Allow wind turbines at non-urban Cell Tower locations! Why not have energy production where a cell tower exists or is needed??? Mount cell equipment on turbine tower...

I would agree with No. 3 but we all know the government does not have the best track record when it comes to dedicated funding sources. I would support a gas tax increase that was directly linked to roads and bridge repair/replacement but Mass government just hasn't earned the reputation of being able to respect dedicate funding streams. Our roads and bridges are in tough shape but the legislature and the Governor would rather fund "feel good" programs.

I like the ideas here but I'd also like to add something else. What about a campaign to help average Americans be better at conserving energy? Kind of like the Victory Gardens of WWII but with simple energy conservation ideas like washing clothes in cold water, switching to CFLs, setting the thermostat to 66 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer, getting your latte in a reusable cup, etc. It's little things like this that when spread over 100 million households can make a big difference.

Agree that the gasoline tax should be raised significantly, but mandated to support public transportation and other renewable options. Under no circumstances should it be used to fund the general coffers. Establish a separate board/nonprofit to reinvest the proceeds.

Oil will be a key source of energy for decades to come. Unless we are willing to dramatically invest to reduce consumption of oil and other fossil fuels, we should include offshore/Alaskan drilling as part of the mix, but with higher royalties to fund further renewable/replacement technologies. I agree with #6 on this premise.

There is not yet enough incentive to conserve electricity - we can't live without coal (yet), but we should use less of the final product. Utilities should be able to incent customer to use less energy, not more.

Last, water conservation should become a high priority. We flush too much drinkable water down the drain, and do not monitor sufficiently for quality. This is a significant environmental threat on local, national, and global fronts

Tax gas, yes, that's the answer. Are you people looking at the economy? Gas is going down because the economy sucks!

Why is there no one talking about improving the mass transit system? Why do we keep talking about building more fuel-efficient cars instead of talking about needing fewer cars? If I could get to work by bus or shuttle I would use it. Enhancing mass transit would create more jobs as well.

Raise taxes on gas because the price dropped???? That will help people who are trying to make ends meet while the price of everything else is going up. It took about 100 years to get to this point - it could easily take another 100 years to get out of it. We are going to have to develop non-emotional long term plans to back out of our excessive use of energy. There ARE NO easy fixes. There ARE NO magic buttons. WE WILL have to lower our standard of living.
- push the development of all-electric cars. To maintain acceptable efficiency they will not have AC, radios, stereos, GPS systems or heat. Stop whining.
- Explore the possibility of re-introducing the steam car - might be able to make use of alternative fuels. Also means you may actually have to learn how to operate your car.
- Turn off the power grid at 9:00 pm. Idle the power plants. Turn the power back on at 4:00 am. Learn to deal with it. Stop whining.
- Push the use of diesel engines. Typically more efficient.
- Be careful that energy "savings" does not simply push the problem somewhere else. Other countries brag about wind and solar power but they can't feed themselves. This means some other location grows thier food. Then you have to add in the cost of food transportation.

Items 1-3 are ridiculous. If we follow these recommendations there will be 0 impact on global warming/ice age/climate change/whatever it is today. 0. That is proveable right here - the solution as always is CAP and TRADE. Does that REDUCE emissions? NO. Just use the dictionary. You don't have to be a scientist to figure that out.

The Democrats are on their way to KILLING JOBS with no benefit in return. They are going to make us MORE vulnerable to threats from energy suppliers that do not fall for this Global Warming crap.

And you can see in these comments that they are going to tell us how to run our lives down to how we heat our homes and and when we turn off the computer. Big Borther and his Civilian National Security Force are coming!

I say increase the gas tax and use that money to subsidize fares for the public transportation system. Also, maybe we can put more charge stations for hybrid cars in areas with high traffic patterns. I recently read about a biotech company in Cambridge putting charge stations in for the green/eco-friendly car service they use. Pretty cool! Car service was called planettran (www.planettran.com)

Here we go! Now that the election is over what are the plans? Here's what has been proposed so far: Fairness doctrine to keep us ignorant of what is going on, Government takeover of 401ks and IRAs, Tax increases, no spending decreases, more handouts, job breaking greenhouse crap.

I would like to see funding for the non-profit organizations that create rails-to-trails programs to convert unused railway lines to bicycle trails. Cycling is green transportation and if more Americans were able to substitute their vehicles for bicycles because we could have safe transportation lanes in our cities and towns, we would have a more fit nation which would drive down health care costs.

Climate change is not due to CO2 but due to our limited air mass of
5,1 x 10(power 18) kilogramms -+20%, which is warmthed up by our inefficient motor engines, which transport this warmth along the Nort Hemisphere, where we all are living in villages and towns. Moreover transatlantic air traffic lifts up the Tropopause above the North Pole by its inefficient warmth at 10 kilometers hight.
Car trafic on the ground warmths up the air up till 3000 meter en melts the ice of the glaciers, the Greenland and the North Pole. Lifting up the Troppause on the North Pole is going down of the Tropopause above the South Pole, and shifting of this fenomenon above the Equator, with their hurricanes are progressing.
www.ldat.nl

Allow homeowners to use the funds in their 401K to install solar panels on their homes. It could be a tax deductible loan to be repaid from the excess energy generated. At approximately $5K per home (lightened by a generous tax deduction) the homeowner will not absorb a major long term debt or even worse a large chunk of change from your ever shrinking budget.

What about mass transit? With the current state of the economy, people still need to move around. Mass transit is very economical, as well as environmentally friendly if they were designed to be fuel efficient. We need more buses, trains, and subways around this country. Developing fuel efficient cars is a waste of time if you don't have the money to buy one. Everywhere, millions of people are being laid off so this is not the time to splurge on a new car. Plus, it doesn't matter if gas comes down to $0.50 per gallon...if you are unemployed..paying to fill your tank is still expensive. The way of the future is to look at Europe and Asia and mimic their transit system. Maybe the Big 3 needs to review designing and developing train engines and carriages. We need to refocus on our mass transit infrastructure that will a) reduce the number of cars on the road = reduced emissions; b) boost the economy, and c) offer economical travel options for those that cannot afford using a car.

How about a little "Sewer Socialism"? Numerous cities throughout the country have combined sewer systems, which are a major source of pollution when storm runnof enters our lakes and streams. Even remedies such as underground tunnels to capture runoff are being outgrown.

One solution is to separate our sewer systems. These projects would put lots of laborers and engineers to work, and would have a beneficial impact on our water resources..