Obama Focuses On Energy

Posted: June 24, 2008

From NBC/NJ Athena Jones June 24, 2008

Barack Obama kept the focus on energy at an event with green technology workers at Springs Preserve—a site outside Las Vegas dedicated to sustainability—arguing he offered a different vision for America’s energy future than his Republican rival.

The presumptive Democratic nominee called oil a “a 19th century fossil fuel that is dirty, dwindling, and dangerously expensive” and said a renewable energy economy was not “some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future, it is now.” He said making progress toward energy independence and encouraging clean energy was one of the top three goals of an Obama administration—along with ending the war in Iraq and reforming the healthcare system.

“I have a very different vision of what this country can and should achieve on energy in the next four years—and in the next 10 years,” he said. “My entire energy plan will produce three times the oil savings that John McCain’s ever could—and what’s more, it will actually decrease our dependence on oil while his will only grow our addiction further.”

Obama’s discussion with a group of about 100 people here, roughly coincided with an event his McCain was holding on the environment in Santa Barbara, CA and the Illinois senator drew laughter at times as he sought to draw contrasts with his rival, criticizing the Republican’s record on clean, renewable energy and his current proposals. He slammed McCain again for proposing a gas tax holiday and for his opposition to the 2005 energy bill that increased investment in renewable energy, saying the Arizona senator had voted against biofuels, solar power, wind power—“some of the very same projects and businesses he’s highlighting in his campaign.” He seemed to mock McCain for saying yesterday that lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling would have a mainly “psychological impact.”

“A psychological impact. In case you were wondering, that’s Washington-speak for, “It polls well.” Obama said to laughter in the crowd. “The American people don’t need psychological relief or meaningless gimmicks to get politicians through the next election cycle, they need real relief that will help them fill up their tanks and put food on their table.  They need a long-term energy strategy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the renewable sources of energy that represent the future.  That’s what the American people need.”

Obama talked about his own plans to invest $150 billion over ten years to develop alternative energy sources and his plans to raise vehicle fuel standards and help car companies make the transition to more fuel efficient cars. He said McCain’s offer of a $300 million reward for the developer of a better car battery was too small-scale, suggesting it was another example of Washington’s failed approach to the issue.

“After all those years in Washington, John McCain still doesn’t get it,” he said. “I commend him for his desire to accelerate the search for a battery that can power the cars of the future.  I’ve been talking about this myself for the last few years.  But I don’t think that a $300 million prize is the way to go. When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn’t put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win – he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people, not just in the private sector but also in the public sector.”

Obama also said McCain’s proposal to build 45 new nuclear reactors did not make sense because he had no plan to store the was in any place other than at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.