Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Wednesday called for more domestic oil and natural gas drilling, pulling the McCain ticket further from the clean-tech industry.
In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Palin touted her accomplishments in laying more pipelines and creating more competition among oil companies as governor of Alaska.
Alaska governor Sarah Palin
If elected, she said that a McCain-Palin administration would tap more oil and gas from Alaska, while investing in nuclear energy and so-called clean coal, where pollution is stored underground at coal power plants.
"We Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all," she said.
McCain, too, has called for more domestic oil and gas production but has opposed drilling in Alaska's North Slope. He advocates a massive increase in nuclear power, with the goal of building 45 new reactors by 2030.
In policies generally favored by the clean-energy industry, McCain supports national cap-and-trade carbon emissions regulations and tax credits for people who purchase fuel-efficient cars. Both McCain and Palin promised investments in renewable sources of energy--solar, wind, and geothermal.
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The two presidential candidates' energy policies fall along philosophical lines, with Sen. John McCain calling to scale back government ethanol policy and Sen. Barack Obama promising expanded support for renewable energy, according to an analysis published Wednesday.
After examining voting records and public statements, research firm New Energy Finance concluded that there are significant differences between the energy stances of Democratic candidate Obama and Republican candidate McCain.
A McCain White House would favor free-market economics and rein in the role of federal government policy on energy. Obama, meanwhile, would seek a more active role for government in promoting the clean energy industry.
"The fiscally conservative, small government-minded McCain has long eschewed subsidies, earmarks, and heavy regulation, and his energy policy is no exception," according to the report. "By contrast, liberal Obama prefers to have the federal government take a more direct role in the U.S. energy sector."
A summary of the presidential candidates' energy policies, with Barack Obama favoring support of the clean energy industry and John McCain calling for less government assistance. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: New Energy Finance)McCain is opposed to existing federal government ethanol production targets and has said that he would eliminate a tariff on Brazilian ethanol, a move which would expose U.S. producers to more competition.
He also advocates expanded domestic oil drilling and a massive increase in nuclear power plant construction, with the goal of building 45 new reactors by 2030.
In sharp contrast to McCain, Obama's voting record has been solidly behind the renewable energy industry. A Senate effort last year to extend an investment tax credit around solar and wind energy projects failed to pass by one vote; McCain did not vote.
Obama has voted for the investment tax credit, set to lapse at the end of this year, and favors a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which would mandate that utilities generate 25 percent clean energy by 2025.
Obama supports the continued ethanol mandate and has called for more aggressive fuel-efficiency standards. Obama has not ruled out further expansion of nuclear power but his support is pending new technology development for storage of nuclear wastes, according to New Energy Finance.
Where both candidates align is on the question of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, with both advocating a cap-and-trade system although different methods for auctioning off polluting rights.
Both have proposed expanded research into so-called clean coal technology for storing carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants underground. And both favor tax breaks for fuel-efficient cars.
Regardless of the outcome, U.S. citizens can expect energy and environment to be a center-stage issue during the fall presidential campaign, although paying for any policies once in office will be a challenge.
New Energy Finance applauds various aspects of both candidates policies but argues that McCain's is "incorrect" in believing that the clean energy industry is mature enough to thrive with relatively little government assistance.
Meanwhile, Obama has garnered the support of a number of clean-tech investors because of his policies; high-profile clean energy venture capitalist Nancy Floyd spoke at the Democratic National Convention and endorsed Obama.
New Energy Finance CEO Michael Liebreich summarized their policies this way:
"We expect either a President Obama or a President McCain to pursue more vigorous policies on clean energy and emission reductions than President Bush has done for the last eight years. Obama is arguably being more imaginative, but he is also taking more of a centrally planned approach. McCain's regional approach, and in particular his insistence on tariff reductions, has much to recommend it. But neither candidate has yet put forward a fully comprehensive plan, and we are hoping to see them developing their policies more completely--particularly towards the encouragement of renewable power generation and energy efficiency--during the final few weeks of the campaign."
Companies seeking to install utility-scale solar plants on federal land in the sunny Southwest found one barrier removed on Wednesday.
The federal Bureau of Land Management reversed an earlier decision to turn away new applications for solar energy projects on public lands until May 2010.
The agency is scrutinizing the potential ecological impact of solar farms in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.
It had announced that it would stop reviewing new proposals, but would continue to process some 125 plans it had already received. Public rejection to that plan reportedly influenced Wednesday's decision.
"By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections," agency Director James Caswell said in a statement.
Solar plants don't exist on public land. However, even projects designed to be near protected areas, such as a proposed California project from OptiSolar, must comply with government reviews to prevent harm to wildlife.
The bureau manages 258 million surface acres, mostly in western states.
NEW YORK--The solar industry's trade group is borrowing political tactics from the oil and gas industry to try to extend a tax credit that it considers vital to continued growth of renewable energy.
The group has also formed a political action committee to ensure that Congress members who voted against the renewable energy tax credit are not re-elected, he said.
"We talk about the green revolution...It's not a revolution until some blood gets spilled," said Resch, who spoke at the Piper Jaffray Clean Technology and Renewables Conference here Wednesday.
Resch added that the investment tax credit has become a political football. "There's going to be a lot less grand-standing in the next couple of weeks," he said.
He noted that a tax-credit bill needs to be passed by the end of the first quarter.
An existing federal tax credit for renewable energy projects is set to expire at the end of 2008. An extension of the tax credit was narrowly defeated at the end of last year during the creation of the 2007 Energy Act, and an economic stimulus plan was passed without the extension earlier this month.
Resch said that the solar industry is abandoning its strategy of pushing for a repeal of a tax break for oil and gas manufacturers in order to pay for the solar tax credit. The solar industry will favor a broader lobbying push instead.
The industry is seeking an eight-year extension of the existing investment tax credit and a more generous credit, which is now 30 percent of the total cost of commercial renewable-energy projects.
Resch said that the industry has already started to see "significant sales drop-off" because of the uncertainty surrounding the investment tax credit, particularly for large-scale solar projects.
He said he's optimistic about the passage of a law this year.
Next year is shaping up to be much more supportive for the renewable-energy industry because all three top presidential candidates are very strong on addressing climate change, Resch said.
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