Editor’s note: Over the next three weeks, the two major candidates for president or their representatives respond to a Denver Post request for their plans on tackling four major issues. Today, Sen. Barack Obama and former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens outline campaign platforms on energy and the environment. Next week: the economy.
For too long, American politicians have paid lip service to the goal of energy independence while failing to take the meaningful steps our nation needs to achieve it.
The next president will be tasked with reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources and fostering clean, homegrown energy technologies, and only Sen. John McCain’s “all of the above” plan utilizes every available option to solve these complex problems.
No sector of our economy is immune to the pressures caused by high gas prices, which have topped $4 a gallon in recent months. When fuel costs rise, the costs of goods and services rise as well, putting pressure on family budgets.
At the same time, we purchase billions of dollars worth of oil from foreign regimes hostile to America. Our nation need not accept this status quo.
Why not, instead, seize the great potential that is before us to achieve American energy independence?
We have vast untapped reserves of oil off our shores and here at home, but we are prohibited from exploring there. Sen. McCain proposes that we lift the federal moratorium on domestic drilling immediately and let states decide where and how we should drill, while Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress oppose tapping these resources.
We also should look no further than Colorado for one of the richest depositories of natural gas resources on the Roan Plateau.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, revenue from Roan Plateau’s oil and natural gas lease sales and royalties could generate as much as $1.13 billion over the next 20 years. Colorado will receive half of those revenues.
The Democrats also oppose nuclear power, even though nations across Europe and Asia have proven that nuclear energy is efficient and safe.
The United States has not built a new nuclear power plant in more than 30 years. John McCain will return nuclear energy to the priority it deserves by putting the U.S. on track to build 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, with the eventual goal of building 100.
Offshore drilling, domestic natural gas exploration here and nuclear power production are just part of the plan for American energy independence. Under a John McCain administration, clean coal, natural gas, wind, hydro and solar power will all play key roles in meeting our future energy needs.
McCain’s “all of the above” energy plan will put America on the fast track toward the independence our nation needs and deserves. Those technologies are important not only in helping to wean ourselves from foreign energy sources, but also in making our air cleaner and addressing climate change.
John McCain’s energy plan addresses global warming with a multi-pronged approach:
• A Clean Car Challenge, a $5,000 tax credit for consumers who purchase zero-emission cars;
• A $300 million prize to radically improve battery technology in hybrid and electric cars;
• An aggressive and rapid progression to Flex-Fuel Vehicles; and
• A commitment to pursuing second-generation alcohol-based fuels such as cellulosic ethanol.
John McCain’s “Lexington Project” — his bold and visionary energy plan named for the town where Americans first asserted our independence — is ambitious. And it will be a challenge for our nation to achieve. But American history has been shaped by a great people meeting steep challenges. America has never shied away from achieving big goals — and few are more important to our economic and national security than energy independence.
Sen. John McCain understands that we must stop talking about energy independence, and start acting to achieve it.
Bill Owens was Colorado’s governor from 1999 to 2007.
