HONG KONG, China, December 3, 2008 (ENS) – Commitments to clean Hong Kong’s beaches, produce carbon-free energy from rice residues, and raise awareness of climate change in India are among the results of the first Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Asia.

Today, at the conclusion of the two-day meeting in Hong Kong, former President Bill Clinton said, “I am truly impressed by our Clinton Global Initiative members and the new commitments announced this week that will bring real, measurable change to millions of lives in Asia and across the world.”

“CGI Asia members have made commitments worth an estimated total value of US$185 million, to positively impact more than 10 million lives,” Clinton said.

Former President Bill Clinton
(Photo courtesy CGI)

Clinton welcomed current and former heads of state and prominent regional business and non-profit leaders who pledged to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges – climate change, food and water security, and deforestation.

“Asia has a strong history of social responsibility and we have a unique opportunity to work together in innovative and effective ways to achieve positive change during a time of great uncertainty for the world,” said Clinton, whose wife, Senator Hillary Clinton has just been nominated to serve as Secretary of State in the incoming administration President-elect Barack Obama.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the CGI Asia meeting’s opening plenary session on Tuesday with a video message, saying, “In recent decades, Asia has achieved remarkable gains in economic growth and development. This progress has offered valuable lessons to the rest of the world.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also addressed the participants via video. “We need new ideas to confront and solve the myriad of challenges which lie ahead of us this century,” said the prime minister. “I look forward to working with all those gathered at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting to move our world forward towards a new chapter in human history.”

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said her visit to Hong Kong to take part in the Clinton Global Initiative was “short but fruitful.” Arroyo told participants that she remains “laser-focused” in working to further strengthen the economy so the country could stay the course.

The Commitments to Action, made by members to affect positive change include the CGI’s three areas of focus – education, energy and climate change, and public health.

The World Food Programme and partners made a far-reaching mega-commitment’ includes six different CGI commitments involving eight countries and is valued at US$20 million dollars. It will focus on feeding more people with better food, targeting vulnerable groups in emergency and post-disaster situations and long-term food security.

Fun in the sun at one of Hong Kong’s 40
beaches (Photo by Pepa Amenabar)

Environmental commitments include a pledge from Graeme Reading, chair of the Café Deco Group, to spend US$125,000 over two years to establish a Hong Kong beach authority, which will coordinate both public and private efforts to clean up Hong Kong’s 40 beaches.

Dr. Robert S. Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, commits US$2.2 million over four years to develop a new technology that will produce carbon-dioxide free energy from rice residues such as straw and husks, helping create additional income for farmers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India and Cambodia.

The BAIF Development Research Foundation and partners, is committing US$30,700 over two years to integrate an educational program on climate change in 10,000 rural schools in Northern India and 5,000 in Maharashtra state.

The Noble Group, one of the world’s largest supply-chain managers whose operations involve many of the Earth’s natural resources and raw materials, announced a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2008. In addition to going carbon neutral, the Noble Group will also generate an awareness-raising campaign targeting its 10,000 staff members and more than 4,000 business partners. This commitment is valued at US$10 million over three years.

Habitat for Humanity China is committing US$12.5 million over 18 months to rehabilitate three communities that were affected by the earthquakes that struck China’s Sichuan province in May by constructing 924 houses, three nursery schools, health clinics, libraries, and outdoor exercise areas.

Hang Seng Bank, along with its partners, is committing US$150,000 over one year to build 300 biogas toilets for 1,700 people in Yunnan, China that will store methane gas produced by humans and poultry to provide local communities with alternative forms of energy for daily use, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

The nonprofit group International Center for Networking, Ecology, Education and Re-Integration, along with its partners, is committing US$1 million over two years to raise awareness of the dangers posed by climate change in India and Mozambique. The group intends to engage 60,000 students in renewable energy discussions in 600 schools to demonstrate that a positive change in individual and community behavior can result in energy efficiency and resource conservation.

Mother and child in a Thar Desert village,
Rajasthan, India (Photo by Mirjam Letsch)

The Jal Bhagirathi Foundation, with its partners, is committing US$7.6 million over six years to implement projects in 400 villages in the Thar Desert of India that will improve underserved populations’ access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and alternative sustainable livelihood opportunities; in an effort to reduce their vulnerability to climate change.

Mlup Baitong and partners is committing US$110,000 over three years to reduce the current degradation of natural resources in Cambodia by coordinating and implementing a community based forestry management project in Kampong Thom province.

51-Sim.org and its partners announced a commits US$1 million over two years to host China’s first ever “Green Car Show” which will be carbon-neutral, and to hold a climate change competition to encourage environmentally-friendly behavior.

Over the course of three years, Practical Action commits US$27 million to help disadvantaged, rural communities develop their capacity to use innovative agricultural techniques that will reduce their vulnerability to disasters and risks associated with climate change, aspiring to improve the lives of 700,000 people.

Aid Foundation, Inc. commits US$260,000 over two years to provide access to clean drinking water for disadvantaged, rural communities by developing their capacity to manufacture and install AIDFI’s hydraulic ram pump in Colombia, Indonesia, Madagascar, and the Philippines, in an effort to improve sanitation and agricultural activities for 3,600 people.

Mr. Wee Lin is committing US$99,000 over nine years to enhance access to environmentally-friendly and affordable food for underserved and poor communities in Singapore by hosting a series of events and engaging stakeholders in dialogue.

The World Toilet Organization, along with its partners, is committing US$1.2 million to expand access for more than 750 million people in Cambodia and India to basic sanitation by improving the current market structure of the sanitation sector. The WTO will work to better match supply of sanitation products with demand and provide training programs for business leaders who wish to tap into the US$1 trillion global sanitation marketplace.

The WWF is committing US$200,000 over three and a half years to provide access to finance, education, and training to excluded and marginalized women and children living in the slums and rural villages of Southern India, and identify potential NGOs who could replicate this program in Northern India.

The Shri Ram School, Shri Ram Foundation, and Save the Children Bal Raksha Bharat commit US$300,000 over two years to launch a comprehensive disaster risk mitigation program to train teachers, children and families to better prepare for and address natural disasters.

GeoHazards International, India’s National Disaster Management Authority, GeoHazards Society, ProVention Consortium, EHDD Architecture, University of New Mexico, Rutherford & Chekene Structural Engineering, Stanford University Chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World, and the National Centre for Peoples’ Action in Disaster Preparedness commit US$5 million over five years to improve the earthquake resistance and energy efficiency of schools and health clinics in Northern India and other Asian countries.

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DENVER, Colorado, August 27, 2008 (ENS) – Speaker after speaker at the Democratic National Convention is calling on Americans to elect Barack Obama president because they expect him to build a green economy powered by U.S. renewable energy instead of by foreign oil.

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York told delegates that she ran for president in part, “To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.”

Presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton
of New York accepts the applause of
convention delegates (Photo courtesy
DNCC)

“And,” Clinton said, “to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

“We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a president who understands that America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need a president who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new technologies that will build a green economy,” Clinton said.

In keynote address to the convention, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner who is now running for a seat in the Senate, said the Republican policies are wrong because they have brought America, “Two wars, a warming planet, an energy policy that says let’s borrow money from China to buy oil from countries that don’t like us.”

“Look at energy,” Warner said. “If we actually got ourselves off foreign oil, we can make our country safer.”

“We’ll start to solve global warming. And with the right policies, within 24 months, we’ll be building 100 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid vehicles right here – with American technology and with American workers.”

Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, delivered
the keynote address. (Photo courtesy DNCC)

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told delegates what she said when she accepted the chair from the previous chair, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has famously called global warming a “hoax.”

“When I took the gavel from the former chairman, I told him that ‘elections have consequences.’ When we win in November, we’ll prove it,” said Boxer.

“Instead of protecting polluters, we’ll protect our families. Instead of ignoring the experts, we’ll fight global warming. Instead of facing Republican roadblocks, we’ll have a Democratic majority large enough to ensure healthy communities,” she said.

“Instead of a president with an Exxon policy, we’ll have a president with an energy policy. This November, we can’t afford more of the same,” Boxer said. “Let’s elect Barack Obama so that the world’s economic and environmental leader will clearly be our nation – the United States of America.”

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington told the delegates that voters in her state “know it’s time for a president who will make energy independence America’s top priority.”

“After eight years of skyrocketing gas prices, eight years of families spending more and more of their paychecks at the pump, and eight years of two former oil men catering to big oil’s agenda, it’s time for a new energy day in America,” said Cantwell. “One that makes energy more efficient and renewable, creating millions of high-wage jobs. One that allows families to spend more of their precious dollars raising children, instead of boosting oil company profits.”

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer devoted his entire speech to solving America’s energy problems by electing Obama, not his Republican opponent.

“We face a great new challenge, a world energy crisis that threatens our economy, our security, our climate and our way of life. And until we address that energy crisis, our problems will only get worse,” Schweitzer said.

“For eight long years, the White House has led us in the wrong direction,” said Schweitzer, a Democrat who chose a Republican to be his second in command.

“After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on big oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, when American families are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind energy,” said the Montana governor.

Schweitzer blamed McCain for taking “more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry,” and for proposing to “give the oil companies another four billion dollars in tax breaks.”

“Right now, the United States imports about 70 percent of its oil from overseas. At the same time, billions of dollars that we spend on all that foreign oil seems to end up in the bank accounts of those around the world who are openly hostile to American values and our way of life.”

At the same time, he said, “CO2 emissions are increasing global temperatures, sea levels are rising and storms are getting worse.”

On the floor of the Democratic National
Convention. August 26, 2008 (Photo DNCC)

“Barack Obama knows there’s no single platform for energy independence. It’s not a question of either wind or clean coal, solar or hydrogen, oil or geothermal. We need them all to create a strong American energy system, a system built on American innovation,” Schweitzer.

“In Montana, we’re investing in wind farms and we’re drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the most promising oil fields in America. We’re pursuing coal gasification with carbon sequestration and we’re promoting greater energy efficiency in homes and offices,” said the govenor.

“Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one you don’t use,” he said.

The Montana governor supports Obama’s plan to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean, renewable energy technology. “This will create up to five million new, green jobs and fuel long-term growth and prosperity. Senator Obama’s plan will also invest in a modern transmission grid to deliver this new, clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to homes, offices and the batteries in America’s new plug-in hybrid cars,” Schweitzer said.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver told delegates that “securing our energy future” is the most important challenge America faces.

“For the last eight years, the big oil companies and their Washington lobbyists have literally written our national energy policies. They have made billions, while the rest of us are stuck paying the bill,” said Culver.

“Now the oil companies are placing their bets on John McCain, bankrolling his campaign, and gambling with our future. McCain has voted against tax credits for renewable energy 11 times, and his only idea to solve our energy crisis is to keep doing what we’re doing, as we watch prices go up and up and up.”

The Iowa governor said only Obama has a detailed plan to lower energy prices and create more green-collar jobs.

“If anyone still doubts whether renewable energy can lower prices and create jobs, look no further than Iowa,” Culver said. “We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy, created more than 100,000 good-paying jobs and provided clean alternatives to overpriced, foreign oil.”

U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who also contested the Democratic nomination for president, told convention delegates that this election is a wake-up call for America.

“Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added four trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care,” Kucinich said, “while all the president’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil.”

“Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet,” he said.

“Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up,” Kucinich said. “Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.”

And Dave Gipp, a Hunkpapa/Lakota American Indian from the Standing Rock Lakota-Dakota Nation, who serves as president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, told delegates that he is one of “thousands of tribal citizens who support Senator Barack Obama for accepting tribal nations and their citizens into the future he sees for America.”

“We’re not another special interest group trying to claim a share of the American pie,” said Gipp. “We are, after all, the first Americans. We paid for our place with land and blood. Our status as sovereign tribal nations is specially recognized in the U.S. Constitution.”

“Every step you take across this great nation, every vista you admire, every city you call by its tribal name, was once Indian country,” said Gipp.

“American Indians are still here and we’re seeking justice for our people,” he said. “We offer the strengths of our spirituality and our connection with Mother Earth in renewing America’s promise for all.”

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ST. PAUL, Minnesota, June 4, 2008 (ENS) – The Democratic primary season officially ended Tuesday night as Senator Barack Obama declared victory before a jubilant crowd of some 17,000 at a rally at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

“This is America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past,” the Illinois senator told cheering supporters. “Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.”

Senator Barack Obama and his wife,
Michelle, applaud supporters in
St. Paul, Minnesota. June 3, 2008.
(Photo by Salvador García Bardon)

Obama acknowledged the accomplishments of his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton as he became the first black candidate in the nation’s history to be the presidential nominee of a major political party.

“You can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory,” he said. “When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen.”

Obama said, “Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Obama and Clinton have had their differences during this long primary campaign, but tonight they each said that the ways America uses energy will have to change in the near future.

“Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it,” said Obama, as he advocated “investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation.”

Speaking in her home state of New York, Clinton acknowledged the strength of her opponent, and then she highlighted similar issues when explaining “what Hillary wants.”

“I want an economy that works for all families,” she said. “That’s why I have been fighting to create millions of new jobs in clean energy and rebuilding our infrastructure, jobs to come to all of our states and urban and rural areas and suburban communities and small towns.”

Turning his attention to his next opponent, Obama deflected the critique of Republican presumptive nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona that he has not been to Iraq recently enough.

Instead, Obama said, it is McCain who would better understand the kind of change Americans want if he visited more places at home in America.

“Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can’t even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he’d understand that we can’t afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators,” Obama said.

“That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future – an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced,” he said. “That’s the change we need.”

In New York, Clinton had a parallel message – the Bush years have left Americans impoverished.

Senator Hillary Clinton makes her way through
a crowd of supporters. June 3, 2008
(Photo credit unknown)

“For the past seven years, so many people in this country have felt invisible, like your president didn’t even really see you,” she said.

Then Clinton too sketched a picture of an energy-smart future that she says could replace today’s tough economy.

“I have seen the shuttered factories, the jobs shipped overseas, the families struggling to afford gas and groceries,” she said, “but I’ve also seen unions retraining workers to build energy efficient buildings, innovators designing cars that run on fuel cells and bio-fuels and electricity, cars that get more miles per gallon than ever before, cars that will cut the cost of driving, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and fight global warming.”

Speaking in Minneapolis from the Xcel Energy Center, the same building where the Republican National Convention will happen in September, Obama said, “The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.”

In concluding, Obama presented his vision of what the future might hold and expressed confidence that both the economy and the environment could be healed.

“Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it,” he said, “then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

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WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2008 (ENS) – In the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard released today by the League of Conservation Voters, Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain received a score of zero. The Scorecard is an annual measure of lawmakers’ votes on environmental issues.

McCain, an Arizona Republican, scored 0 percent in 2007 due to missing all 15 votes scored, including the key vote on repealing tax giveaways to big oil – a measure that failed by only one vote.

McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every crucial environmental vote scored by the LCV, posting a score lower than members of Congress who were out for much of the year due to serious illnesses, and even lower than some who died during the term.

Senator John McCain on the campaign trail
in New Hampshire. (Photo courtesy
McCain for President)

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said, “We were appalled two weeks ago when John McCain was the only senator who chose to skip a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America – dooming the measure to fail by just a single vote.”

“McCain missed votes to save his constituents $499 million dollars at the pump and at least $550 million on their energy bills, while creating more than 10,000 new clean energy jobs in his home state,” said Pope.

McCain posts a lifetime LCV environmental score of only 24. By contrast, the average member of Congress scored a 53 in 2007.

Still, McCain has received the endorsement of Republicans for Environmental Protection, the only environmental group recognized by the National Republican Party.

The presidential candidates’ scores all suffered from the occupational hazard of absenteeism. Senator Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat, and Senator Barack Obam, an Illinois Democrat, missed four votes each in 2007.

Yet both made a point of being on hand for the key vote that would have allowed a version of the energy bill to move forward that included a provision to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil and put that money toward clean energy programs.

Clinton’s score in 2007 was 73 percent and she scored 87 percent over her lifetime in the Senate.

Obama’s 2007 score was 67 percent, with an 86 percent lifetime score.

LCV President Gene Karpinski said the Scorecard shows that last year “marked a turning point for the environment, and proved that electing pro-environment candidates is a critical first step toward enacting sound environmental policies that will protect our planet and our future.”

“The progress of 2007, including passage of the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for automobiles in a generation, was largely due to new leadership in both the House and the Senate,” Karpinski said.

“We especially applaud Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Majority Leader [Harry] Reid for their leadership, and we also commend the many new members who came to Congress determined to bring about a clean energy future,” he said.

“As we begin the second half of the 110th Congress, we realize we still have a long way to go,” said LCV Legislative Director Tiernan Sittenfeld. “But we have high hopes that lawmakers will build on the progress of 2007. Most important, they must heed the warnings of the world’s leading climate scientists who say we have a very short window in which to avert the catastrophic effects of global warming.”

“This year, LCV urges Congress to pass legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050,” Sittenfeld said. “Our future depends on it, and LCV will continue to work hard to educate the public on which lawmakers are helping us achieve those goals.”

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WASHINGTON, DC, February 4, 2008 (ENS) – Millions of Americans will vote in the Super Tuesday primary elections on February 5th, and many will consider the candidates’ shade of green before casting their ballots. From addressing climate change to touting biofuels, the presidential hopefuls promise a wide range of sustainable actions if elected. But which candidate is more likely to act once he or she is sworn into office?

If you listen to them speak, the remaining presidential candidates can sometimes sound like jolly green political giants. They discuss carbon caps, pledge to mandate renewable energy, and promote clean technology including solar, wind and biofuels.

Senator Barack Obama of
Illinois, Democratic
candidate (Photo
courtesy Office of
Senator Obama)

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have addressed green issues including carbon cap and trade systems, renewable energy, and biofuels much more frequently while campaigning than their Republican counterparts.

Republicans John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee have said comparatively little about climate change or clean energy during their debates or on the stump so far. Promoting clean energy for them is often in the context of energy independence and national security.

This is not a surprise since the environment is of greater importance to Democratic voters, according to author Terry Tamminen, who was the secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency under Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Sadly, Republican candidates believe that their ‘base’ voters don’t care about environmental issues in general and, in many cases, don’t believe in global warming,” Tamminen says.

Tamminen created a scorecard grading the candidates’ action plans for climate change and gave both Democrats a B and an F to all three Republicans.

Senator Hillary Clinton
of New York,
Democratic
candidate
(Photo courtesy
Clinton for
President)

Once the general election starts, he says the Republican nominee would likely become more vocal about climate change and related issues to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters.

Talk is cheap, however, especially when it comes to presidential campaigning.

“Part of the problem is that candidates say a lot of things that they don’t follow through on,” says George A. Gonzalez, an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Miami. “Can we understand how they will govern based on how they campaign? Unfortunately not.”

More telling of what the candidates would do as president are their connections to lobbyists and the record of their energy and environmental policies, according to experts.

Rich Gold, a partner at the law firm of Holland and Knight who practices in the area of legislative and environmental law, says voters should, “Look more at their historical relationships and their life experiences.”

Gold, who worked in the Clinton administration, says if there is a gap between what the candidates are saying during the primary season and what their political philosophy has traditionally been, believe their historical views.

For example, when George Bush was campaigning for president in 2000, he claimed to support a cap and trade system on carbon emissions, which contradicted his 20 years of working in the oil business. Gold says, it “shouldn’t have surprised people that he flip-flopped.”

A president who acts to limit carbon emissions or mandate renewable energy production would not be popular with the oil and gas crowd, especially if they helped to get him or her into the White House.

Senator John McCain
of Arizona,
Republican candidate
(Photo courtesy
Office of Senator
McCain)

When criticized for accepting money from energy companies, Hillary Clinton has protested that she makes her legislative decisions independent of campaign contributions.

Experts differ on the influence of oil, nuclear and coal industries on presidents. Professor Gonzalez says that “any president will have to take their counsel to a certain extent.”

According to author Tamminen, the oil industry contributed $186 million to congressional and presidential candidates during the past decade and received generous tax breaks in return, adding that, “While it’s hard to prove any specific act of money-in-favors-out, those numbers speak for themselves.”

Attorney Gold, however, says presidents act largely above the lobbyist fray. “I don’t think people at that level are making decisions based on who gave them money.”

The three senators who are running for president have considerable differences in their environmental voting records, according to data from the League of Conservation Voters, LCV.

According to the LCV scorecard, Obama had a perfect score during the 2006 congressional session – the last year that data was compiled. Clinton scored 71 percent, and McCain scored just 29 percent.

Despite Obama’s stellar environmental voting record, he supports clean coal and nuclear technologies that are important to the economy of his home state of Illinois, but that some environmentalists find objectionable.

In January of 2007, Obama co-sponsored the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007, which would provide funding to companies that convert coal to liquid diesel fuel. After taking heat on the bill, several months later Obama backtracked, saying he would only support clean coal initiatives that would reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent as compared with conventional fuels.

Mike Huckabee,
former governor
of Arkansas
(Photo courtesy
Huckabee for
President)

He has also supported incentives for nuclear energy. He voted for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which, along with some funding for renewables, gave tax breaks to companies for expanding nuclear power.

Clinton has not authored any significant legislation concerning climate change or renewable energy. She has voted against funding coal to liquids technologies as well as the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that provided incentives for the nuclear industry. In 2007, she voted to expand offshore oil drilling.

McCain began sponsoring legislation to address climate change in 2003, before it became a popular subject in the Senate. The McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act of 2003 was revised and presented to the Senate again in 2005, but failed to pass. It provides for a cap on U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases and a trading system for emissions permits.

Like Clinton, McCain voted to expand offshore drilling, but unlike his two peers, he was not present to vote for the landmark 2007 energy bill that raised vehicle fuel economy standards.

Mitt Romney,
former governor
of Massachusetts
(Photo courtesy
Romney for President)

Both governors took measures to address climate change during their administrations. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee adopted the National Governors Association’s 2006 policy position on climate change, promoted energy efficiency by switching to compact fluorescent lighting, and signed into law the Arkansas Renewable Energy Development Act.

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney promoted a Climate Protection Plan, which encouraged required state agencies and large businesses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He supported an agreement of Northeastern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Neither governor did much while in office to encourage the development of clean technology.

Whoever takes office in 2008 will have to prioritize energy and environmental concerns among many other issues and work closely with Congress to enact new laws.

Attorney Gold says that with a slipping economy, climate change legislation may have to take a back seat. Working with Congress during the “honeymoon days” that coincide with a new administration might be the best time to get green legislation passed, according to Gold.

Professor Gonzalez says the increased talk of clean energy and climate concerns on the campaign trail could result in new executive action. Once in the White House, Gonzalez says, a candidate who made promises to the electorate might do more than one who did not. He says, “I have more hope that someone who is talking about it more will take action.”

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