Campaigns push energy issues to the forefront

Candidates back independence, differ on methods

By Bina Venkataraman, Globe Correspondent  |  October 30, 2008

With oil and gas prices at record levels this summer, the presidential candidates have talked more about energy than most, if not all, White House hopefuls in recent decades.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin yesterday questioned the Democratic ticket's commitment to energy independence, saying her counterpart, Senator Joe Biden, has opposed offshore drilling and use of "clean coal" technology in the United States.

Senator Barack Obama has been less enthusiastic in his support for offshore oil and gas drilling and nuclear power than Senator John McCain, while McCain has voted against federal subsidies for alternative energy projects.

Obama and McCain, however, say that eliminating dependence on foreign oil and combating climate change will be a top priority if they are elected.

Here is a closer look at what they have said about their energy and environmental agendas:

Obama and McCain say they support offshore drilling for oil. Neither supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Palin supports drilling in the refuge, located in Alaska. The McCain campaign has called Palin, the Alaska governor, one of the nation's foremost energy experts and indicated she would have purview over the issue in a McCain administration.)

Obama supports a five-year windfall profits tax on oil companies, while McCain opposes such a tax. McCain emphasizes the expansion of the domestic oil supply more than Obama does.

Both candidates say they support "clean coal," technology that would capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, which supply half of the country's electricity, and bury the gas underground.

The technology however, would probably require billions of dollars of investment and more than a decade to become viable.

McCain is calling for the construction of 45 nuclear power plants by 2030, but has not said whether he would support government subsidies to build the plants.

Obama says he does not rule out "safe" nuclear power as one alternative energy option, but has frequently expressed concern about disposal and recycling of nuclear waste.

Obama proposes a $150 billion investment over 10 years in clean energy technology, including plug-in cars, biofuels, and wind and solar power. He backs a requirement that 25 percent of the nation's electricity be produced from renewable energy sources by 2025. He supports ethanol subsidies.

McCain also says he would invest in alternative energy, though he has not proposed a minimum requirement for producing power from renewable sources, nor a specific dollar figure of investment in renewable energy technology.

His platform emphasizes modest tax credits for companies that develop such technology, and he says he would offer a $300 million prize to the developer of a low-cost battery for plug-in or hybrid vehicles. McCain opposes subsidies for ethanol.

Both candidates support forms of cap-and-trade regulations, which in general set limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allow companies that can't meet those standards to buy "pollution permits" from companies that reduce emissions below the limits.

Obama calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Most environmental groups say that this target, at a minimum, is necessary to forestall the worst consequences of global warming, while critics say that such legislation could be difficult to pass in Congress.

Obama is also calling for all of the pollution permits in a national cap-and-trade system to be auctioned by the government, as opposed to given away to businesses before trading begins.

McCain is calling for a 60 percent reduction below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

He would hand out at least some credits free to coal-fired power plants and other businesses until an undisclosed date. He would also initially offer some companies the option of meeting emissions targets by paying for "offsets," activities such as planting trees that are proven to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Both senators co-sponsored a bill in 2007 that included cap-and-trade rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 67 percent from current levels by 2050, a goal that is less stringent than those that use 1990 emissions levels as a benchmark.

McCain has led groups of senators to the Arctic and Antarctica on at least three occasions to observe evidence of climate change.

Critics argue that his greenhouse gas emissions targets are not aggressive enough and point out that Palin has said she has doubts about whether global warming is caused by human activities.