Bush’s policy a “hoax”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called global warming and energy policy “the issue of our time” at a press conference where she urged President Bush to relieve high gas prices by opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Pelosi said the SPR is 97 percent full, the highest it has ever been, and that Americans deserve access to gasoline purchased with their tax dollars. Pelosi, who made a similar request to Bush ten days ago, added that gas prices would have lowered by now if Bush had acted when she originally asked. Pelosi repeatedly stated that despite having two oil men in the White House, gas prices remain over $4.

Continuing, Pelosi said Bush’s energy policy have caused price spikes and discussed the democratic DRILL (Drill Responsibly In Least Lands) Act, an act that advocates increased developments in energy alternatives and minimal drilling. She noted that calls for off-shore drilling by Republicans will take ten years to enact and only lower prices by $0.02. Pelosi said this route would cause the average family to spend $57,000 on gas in the next decade. She called Bush’s solution to high energy prices a “hoax” and said a majority of Americans agree that increasing the development of alternative energies is a good way to decrease prices while building new jobs.

In reference to increased violence in Afghanistan, Pelosi criticized the White House for initially turning its attention towards Iraq, allowing the situation in Afghanistan to worsen. She said Democrats in Congress demand accountability from the military and the Executive Branch, adding that Bush is now realizing the commitment that is necessary to fight extremism in Afghanistan.

Shades of green: Obama, McCain advisors on energy policy

The energy policies of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) were discussed at a conference hosted by the National Journal. In addition, panelists discussed their views of the political climate for legislative action in the coming congress.

Elgie Holstein, senior adviser to the Obama Campaign on energy, stated that both McCain and Obama have endorsed a cap and trade approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, believing it to be the most economically friendly way to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions limitations that the campaign is hoping will become a part of national policy. However, the candidates differ in how aggressive they plan to be. Obama hopes to see a reduction of 80 percent below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while McCain would aim for a 60 percent reduction. In addition, Obama plans to auction off credits to companies that choose to continue polluting. Money from these auctions would be used to develop clean-energy technologies and underwrite the labor costs of transitioning to this new technology. McCain would not charge for these pollution credits, though would consider following a plan similar to Obama's years from now.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, domestic policy adviser to the McCain campaign, described McCain's intention of focusing on the vulnerabilities to our economy, environment and national security that our nation's reliance on foreign oil has caused. Holtz-Eakin stated that this reliance puts us at the mercy of leaders who do not share the same values as the United States, including Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez. As such, McCain advocates new oil and gas development on US shores, though not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He also favors research into new technologies to ease this dependence. Conversely, Obama is opposed to offshore exploration, favoring higher auto emissions standards along with a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

Despite their different policy preferences, Holstein noted that for the first time both Democrats and Republicans have acknowledged that environmental issues can no longer be ignored.

U.S. addicted to oil, like cocaine

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) spoke at his weekly pen and pad today about the failures of the Bush Administration and the need to regulate the speculation in the oil market. The House is holding four hearings this week on the impact of speculation on the oil market.

Recently President Bush said that the United States was addicted to oil, and his solution was to get more oil, Hoyer said you don’t give a cocaine addict more drugs and that the United States should be looking for alternative solutions to our energy needs. The United States should be looking to reduce, explore, extract, refine, sell and bring prices down in the oil market in the near future, he said. The House Democrats were recently blocked by the Republicans to get the oil industry to drill on the 68 million acres of federal land they have permits for or lose the permits. Hoyer said that Republicans have blocked many pieces of legislation on the House and Senate side and are not seriously working to solve the energy crisis.

Hoyer said that the Bush Administration has had the worst job performance of any administration, they have lost jobs and increase the national debt of the U.S. Americans are correctly concerned about the energy crisis, and that only recently did the Bush Administration recognize the fact that global warming was an issue.

The House will be getting its message out to voter in the month of July, and Hoyer said they will be working with the Obama campaign to get a change of direction from the Bush economic, energy and fiscal policies.

The “inconvenient truths” of global energy

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the challenges to meeting future energy needs and to developing the technologies for meeting increased global energy demand. Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the United States is at a crossroads and now has an opportunity to develop the technologies to break the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. He explained that the final message of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report, the goal of reaching a fifty percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, is attainable by 2050.

Ranking Member Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said that the U.S. is facing two big problems at the same time: increased carbon dioxide emissions and a growing energy dependence. Domenici explained the difficulty to agree on what options Congress should pursue in order to achieve the goal of a more energy efficient nation. He said that there are many “inconvenient truths” that the U.S. must contend with today, including the effort required to reduce domestic carbon dioxide emissions, which if not done correctly will be very costly. Also, Domenici said that no matter how successful the country is in limiting its carbon dioxide emissions, oil will remain an essential part of the “domestic energy mix.”

Neil Hirst, the Director for Energy Technology and Research and Development at IEA, gave a very detailed report on new scenarios and strategies for a more sustainable energy future. Hirst explained that a global goal should be to have carbon dioxide levels in 2050 remain equal to what they are today in 2008. This would require a huge carbon dioxide reduction; the amount of carbon dioxide reduced would have to be greater than current carbon dioxide emissions. Hirst said that the U.S. is facing an urgent challenge which needs a global solution. He also said that a global technology revolution is needed to transform how the world uses its energy.

Raymond Orbach, the Director of the Energy Department’s Office of Science, said that the U.S. needs to focus on the way nature provides fuel “so that we can follow suit.” He explained the country’s growing capability to direct and control matter down to molecular, atomic, and quantum levels. This increasing ability to control the fundamental, nanoscale building blocks of both biological and non-biological matter “holds out a promise” of eventually transforming the way the world will generate, store, transmit, and use energy.

Obama conference call rips McCain energy policy

The Obama campaign hosted a conference call with Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and former Iowa Governor Vilsack to discuss Republican Senator John McCain's "failed approach" to drilling for energy independence.

Senator Obama's supporters argued McCain's calls for drilling for oil off the U.S. coast will not succeed in lowering our oil prices, nor will McCain's calls for a "gas tax holiday" help our country in the future.

The Obama campaign portrayed McCain as a candidate who has "flip flopped" on how to solve the energy crisis facing our nation, and said that the best way to help America's struggling middle class and to become less dependent on foreign oil was to be more efficient with our energy use and to develop alternative fuel sources for automobiles. Obama's supporters said he has the "vision" to lead America to use energy and fuel properly.