A Blog Called Hope

After McCain’s switch on offshore drilling, ten Hess executives dump money into McCain campaign

Here is the scoop from Talking Points Memo:

“Ten senior Hess Corporation executives and/or members of the Hess family each gave $28,500 to the joint RNC-McCain fundraising committee, just days after (Republican John) McCain reversed himself to favor offshore drilling, according to Federal Election Commission reports.”

Here is more from USA Today:

McCain and the Republican National Committee received a burst of oil money after that shift. The New York Times said “the largest collective response from a single company” — more than $300,000 — came from Hess. On its Caucus blog, the paper delves into “whopping” contributions from two people with apparently modest incomes.

The newest ad from the Obama campaign highlights Senator Obama’s plans for energy in America

Senator Obama stresses the need to break our dependence on foreign oil and enhance America’s energy infrastructure

Today, Senator Barack Obama outlined his energy plan for the United States. Central to his proposal is the need to shift away from America’s reliance on foreign oil and find alternative energy resources.

Senator Obama’s plan calls for tapping into our own oil reserves. In addition to the utilization of our reserves, Senator Obama set forth three steps to increase energy production and reduce the cost of energy for American consumers. These include:

“To do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next decade … and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates 5 million new American jobs,” Senator Obama explained.

In addition to his energy plan, Senator Obama expressed his support for windfall profits taxes on big oil that will provide $1,000 to people struggling with the high energy costs.

For more on this story visit, CNN.

To learn more about Senator Obama’s energy policy, visit BarackObama.com.

Here is the video from Senator Obama’s speech.

Obama in Lansing, MI on August 4, 2008.

Click below to view Senator Obama’s newest ad on energy.

Senator Obama’s “Pocket” ad

Declining poll numbers and an unfavorable political disposition towards Republicans indicates John McCain has to do something more to better connect with the American people and maintain the Republican hold on key red states. And with record numbers of voters identifying themselves as Democratic nationally, McCain’s chances for the White House win are looking more and more dismal.

Senator John McCain’s energy plan focuses on off-shore drilling, a plan strongly reminiscent of Bush policies that benefit Big Oil. Such policies will further push the US behind countries such as Japan, Germany and Spain. Off-shore drilling would not contribute to a real change in gas prices instead only fooling consumers by providing what McCain called in an MSNBC article a “psychological impact.”

This new position goes against his previous stance form the 2000 election, when he opposed lifting the moratorium and campaigned against off-shore drilling.

Other energy ideas include McCain’s support of using Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a national dump site for both nuclear and radioactive waste. He also wants to create 45 new nuclear plants, which would only create more nuclear wasts. John McCain has a history of opposing incentives for renewable energy and green jobs.

Conversely, Senator Obama suggests a plan to create a new energy economy. He rejects McCain’s plans and denounces the Republican nominee’s claim of a psychological benefit as political posturing: “In case you’re wondering, in Washington-speak what that means is that it polls well. It’s an example of how Washington tries to convince you that they’ve done something to make your life better when they really didn’t,” the Senator said.

Polls indicate that Senator McCain has failed to break with the notion that he will uphold Bush policies, strengthening the already commonly held belief that his election will be nothing more than a third Bush term.

Top senior advisor to McCain, Charlie Black has only made matters worse for the presumptive Republican nominee by suggesting that another attack on American soil would help McCain’s campaign. On Monday, it was also reported that another top McCain advisor was quoted as saying Benazir Bhutto’s assassination earlier this year “helped us” in their campaign.

McCain also seems to be losing trust with voters as he repeatedly ignores and violates campaign rules; he violated multiple federal laws by taking a political trip to Canada, broke laws regarding the use of a corporate jet, and skirted around FEC regulations by withdrawing from the FEC’s matching funds program after using the program for financial gains for his campaign.

With more voters identifying themselves as democratic and with McCain’s inability to persuade the American people that his election will not result in a Bush third term, it seems as though McCain’s Bush-Rove tactics are finally catching up with him.

Despite Senator McCain’s recent efforts to paint himself as the energy-savvy candidate, a further look at his record exposes the truth of his environmental ineptitude

In recent weeks, Senator John McCain has shifted his campaign focus to energy; presumably a response to public concerns over rising gas prices and global warming.

One must agree that the Senator from Arizona has indeed put on a good show. Though, a series of entertaining rants is all Senator McCain has devolved into. He has thrown around a $300 million figure to possibly motivate inventors to help resolve our dependence on oil. He has discussed the development of nuclear energy facilities in Nevada (despite the fact 3/4 of Nevada voters oppose such a move).

The reality is that Senator McCain has repeatedly voted against legislation to create “green” jobs and in favor of increasing nuclear waste in the state of Nevada.

In 2002, John McCain voted to approve a site at Yucca Mountain as a repository for nuclear and radioactive waste. After the vote, McCain said that storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain would answer “one of the most important environmental, health and public safety issues for the American people.” In 2000, McCain voted to override the presidential veto of legislation that would establish a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In 1997, McCain similarly voted to establish a repository at the Mountain. McCain voted yes on a similar bill in 1996. [2002 Senate Vote #167, 7/9/2002; The Arizona Republic, 7/10/2002; 2000 Senate Vote #88, 5/2/2000; 1998 Senate Vote #148, 6/2/1998; 1997 Senate Vote #42, 4/15/1997; 1996 Senate Vote #259, 7/31/1996; 1996 Senate Vote #256, 7/31/1996]

When coupled with the fact that Senator McCain has consistently voted against the creation of “green” jobs, it is easy to see the inherent contradiction of his policy on energy.

John McCain supported the filibuster of the 2007 energy bill that included an extension of the production tax credit to 2011. While McCain missed the vote to on the bill, according to his staff he did, in fact, support the continuing the filibuster, which eventually killed the bill. In its place, Congress passed another version of the legislation that did not include an extension of the tax credit. A 2008 economic study by Navigant Consulting found that “over 116,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment could be lost in just one year if renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by Congress… The study concluded that over 76,000 jobs are put at risk in the wind industry, and approximately 40,000 jobs in the solar industry.” [HR 6, Vote 425, 12/13/07, Failed 59-40: R 9-39 D 48-1 I 2-0; Forbes, 12/13/07; U.S. News & World Report, 12/14/07; American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association press release, 2/4/08]

For a man who claims he has taken up the cause of trying to find alternative energy resources in order to salvage Americans from swelling gas prices, it has become clear that McCain has been wholly inconsistent when it comes to energy. The only constant on energy when it comes to McCain is that he talks a good game to appease the American public but makes decisions behind closed doors that push us further from resolving the energy crisis.

John McCain is expected to call for more offshore drilling today. His campaign recently released an ad meant to champion him as a supporter of renewable energy. The same day that ad was released, McCain left for Texas to meet with his friends at Big Oil.

During his last run for the presidential nomination, McCain supported a moratorium on drilling. He will also reverse his stance on the need for a windfall profit tax for oil companies. Just six weeks ago McCain said he was open to a tax on excessive oil company profits; tonight, he will take the opposite position when he rejects the tax.

His new ad claims to eliminate the US’s dependence on foreign oil by supporting renewable energy although he has repeatedly voted against such green jobs and technologies.

Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney attacks McCain’s new ad as “universally misleading”:

“How can we trust John McCain to confront soaring gas prices or break America’s dependence on foreign oil when he caved in to Big Oil on drilling and tax breaks when of his top economic advisors helped create the problem in the first place, and he has repeatedly opposed incentives for green jobs and renewable energy?”

McCain has not voted to promote renewable energy
John McCain has repeatedly voted against efforts to promote renewable energy, as with his vote against an amendment mandating renewable energy sources to produce a minimum of 10 percent of the electricity sold by electric utilities by 2020. Many bills failed to pass by only a few votes.

In 2007 alone, McCain missed numerous votes on the passage of energy policy legislation, including a missed vote on a bill that would increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Other missed votes included bills for tax credits for renewable energy production, for renewable energy R&D, and for energy related tax incentives worth $18 billion. [2007 Senate Vote #98, 3/22/2007; 2007 Senate Vote #223, 6/21/2007; 2007 Senate Vote #416, 12/7/2007; 2008 Senate Vote #8, 2/6/2008 2006 Senate Vote #42, 3/14/2006; 2005 Senate Vote #158, 6/28/2005; 2001 Senate Vote #125, 5/21/2001]

McCain blocked tax credits for green jobs
A 2008 economic study by Navigant Consulting found that “over 116,000 US jobs and nearly $19 billion in US investment could be lost in just one year if renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by Congress.” The study shows that over 76,000 jobs are put at risk in the wind industry and 40,000 more are put at risk in the solar industry.

The Enron Loophole
Years after the Enron scandal, the loophole that helped bring Enron to its demise still lives on. McCain Campaign Co-Chair Phil Gramm tucked the Commodities Future Modernization Act into a separate piece of legislation which would later be known as the Enron Loophold. Evidence shows that investors looking to make an easy gain are causing prices in oil to rise faster than ordinary market forces could. The loophole allows unregulated trading on energy futures markets where investors can essentially “bet” on oil prices at a given point in the future.

With renewable energy sources and plans for a greener America receiving more attention from presidential hopefuls Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, the hunt for more energy efficient solutions is on the rise. Recent bills by Senator Montalbano and Representatives Segal and Fox and scheduled to be voted on by both the Rhode Island House and Senate today at 4 pm, address the growing energy concern and will help launch the state into the national renewable energy economy.

The bills initiate a dramatic augmentation in overall limits and grant an increase from 1 megawatt to 1.65 MW in all projects.

Further increases in limits, through “Virtual Net Metering,” allows cities and towns to finance projects on city or town owned land up to 2.25 MW and then buy power directly from the developer. Cities or towns can then “virtually” apply excess energy to future bills or apply it to different city or town accounts, or “meters.” Overall, the state’s aggregate net metering has seen an increase from 5 MW to 2% of the peak load.

Residential customers can also apply excess generation to future bills. If excess credits still remain after 12 months, the credits will be applied to the Renewable Energy Low Income Fund.

Net metering will further benefit residential customers primarily with small solar installations and benefit cities and towns with small onshore wind farms.

The Amendment also allows cash-strapped communities to seek private-sector financing. For example, a the cost of a 1.5 MW wind turbine is approximately $3.5 million, not taking into consideration the cost of maintenance, legal and permitting fees that under previous legislation would be costs entirely assumed by the city or town. Under the new plan, cities and towns can benefit from developing renewable projects on municipal-owned land without the threat of liability or the constraints of the cost of ownership.

By promoting and facilitating long-term contracts between electric distribution companies and renewable energy developers and sponsors, the goals of “stabilizing long-term energy prices, enhancing environmental quality, creating new jobs in Rhode Island in the renewable energy sector, and facilitating the financing of renewable energy generation” are set to be met.

For more information on Rhode Island renewable energy bills, visit the bill status webpage of the Rhode Island General Assembly at http://dirac.rilin.state.ri.us/BillStatus/webclass1.asp.

Excellent news for Coventry! Allco Renewable Energy, of New York, has chosen Coventry as a location for a 90-acre, 8-megawatt solar farm. The exact location is the former Picillo pig farm, 8-acres of which was declared to be so polluted that is was a Superfund site in the 1980s.

The agreement with the town gives Allco a 50-year lease to use the site. Allco has agreed to pay the town $200,000 a year or 4 percent of the electricity sales, whichever is greater, with future increases corresponding to the rise of inflation.

The project will be paid for completely by Allco, without the town incurring any financial liability. The project, however, is contingent on passage of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, a proposal submitted by Rep. Ray Sullivan (D-Coventry). The legislation, dubbed “feed-in tariff,” would require National Grid to purchase renewable energy from Rhode Island producers (i.e. Allco). The rate will be set by the Public Utility Commission.

The important issue is that developing a clean solar farm is a step in the right direction to alleviate Rhode Island’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy production. Since 2000 the country has seen the price of oil skyrocket from about $25 per barrel to over $100 per barrel. And while oil is only a small part of the energy production pie (coal and natural gas), the rise in oil prices is indicative to the general trend of higher energy prices.

With renewable energy, the cost won’t go up. Rhode Islanders don’t have to worry about another war in the Middle East, increased consumption by China, India, or Russia, or diminishing global supplies. If anything, the more development of renewable technology will only bring the cost of production down.

Of course not everyone is happy. Rep. Nick Gorham (R-Coventry) isn’t happy. He thinks building a solar farm is dumb because Rhode Island isn’t the best spot in the country to produce solar energy.

So, the choice before everyone is as follows: develop renewable energy in the state, provide green-collar jobs for the construction and maintenance of the solar farm, and produce enough clean, pollution-free energy to supply a small town, OR do nothing, keep doing things they way everyone’s been doing it and hope that the world doesn’t fall apart.