American Presidential Candidate John McCain on Energy

In the first profile we look at Senator John McCain, after his lose in 2000 to George W. Bush, the Senator has staged a big comeback this year. Although critics have said that John McCain's plans are unrealistic to take the nation away from oil, he remains adamant on his plans. Contrary to his other GOP counterparts he believes that global climate change is real and that the issue needs to be addressed at all costs.

His voting record has long been at odds with his views. On the one hand he wants to see ethanol succeed but has only approved a measure for hydrogen cars, nothing in the way of tougher fuel standards. Also his voting record shows that he voted no on a measure to require including ethanol in fuel.

The Senator also advocates oil companies reinvesting profits in alternatives, however he does not want to force them to do this. In 1999 McCain voted yes to defunding $62 million USD from the Department of Energy's budget towards renewables energy. This cut in wind and solar funding also makes sense considering the Senator has long pushed nuclear power at the forefront of his agenda.

McCain believes that joining Kyoto would have been wrong for the United States, but at the same time he is prepared to join a follow up protocol and is keen to seek emissions standards.

McCain was quoted as saying: “I’m very reluctant to have the federal government mandate anything,” McCain said as the snow swirled outside. “We just passed an energy bill that has some of these requirements. ... Of course we want renewable energy.

“Of course we want better standards. I want to do everything I can to see that wind, solar, hydrogen, ethanol ... and all of these, including nuclear power, are put to better use.”

McCain has also made it clear that he is against biofuel subsidies and wants to see markets work. Also he favors a credit system for clean renewables , thereby creating an environment where alternative energy is rather the norm.

At the heart of his agenda however as with many other of his arguments are national security and foreign policy considerations.

For additional information:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/65bd0fbe-737b-4851-a7e7-d9a37cb278db.htm

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/mccain_speech_on_energy_policy.html

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/John_McCain_Energy_+_Oil.htm