Senator John McCain:

Senator John McCain claims that he is an environmentalist who will “make global warming a priority”. He wants to reduce dependence on foreign oil and utilize more nuclear energy. In the past few years, McCain has supported caps on carbon dioxide emissions, especially from the automobile industry. Also, he intends for the United States to join the Kyoto Protocol. However, in order for him to make this agreement, Senator McCain will require China and India to join as well. Experts sat that this condition is “unlikely to be met at the moment.” He favors off shore drilling, but drilling off the shores of Alaska will take ten years to have a positive effect on the country. The 45 new nuclear power facilities could be a step in the right direction towards clean energy, but these facilities will not be a part of federal spending. In order to complete his goal, John McCain will rely on private funding and investments. But is the economy really in a position that will allow for such great investments? Overall, McCain has recently come to support several plans that could potentially be better for the environment, but many of these plans have a slim chance of actually working out.

Senator McCain has promised to:

Financially support research for a battery powered car that could travel 120-200 miles on a single charge.
Start off shore drilling projects as soon as possible
Build new nuclear power plants, develop clean coal technology, increase use of flex fuel, and increase use of solar/wind power.

As for Senator McCain’s voting record on the issue of global warming and energy, he has not voted at all. Senator McCain has bee absent for the past 15 votes in the senate that were crucial in solving the energy crisis. Later, one of his spokesman said that he would have voted in favor of big oil companies. When he did vote, McCain voted against the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This act would create tax incentives for people to curb their carbon emissions. He did however, support and write the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act. This act would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Senator Barack Obama

Barack Obama believes in the conservation of energy, the reinvigoration of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the restructuring of the initiatives for clean air and water in our nation. In order to do this, Barack Obama wants to provide tax breaks for families that invest in hybrid cars with low tax emissions and to create green jobs by the millions to reduce unemployment, conserving our natural resources in the process. Barack Obama wants to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and follow through with initiatives like the Alaskan Natural Gas Pipeline. Yet, while this issue is of great importance, I have trouble grasping the fact that he will be able to respond to our dynamic and volatile economic situations in the face of this impending environmental issues. Will he be able to synthesize efforts between the working to bolster the economy and to change the way America thinks about our environment? And, if so, how does he plan to make these efforts work in our government system if the Congress is controlled by a conservative majority?

Barack Obama has promised to:

Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

These are the key issues that he hopes to combat as President, and he has rolled advertisements about McCain’s stance on the environment, claiming, “McCain wants to give [oil companies] another $4 billion in tax breaks,” which is something that we should avoid since the oil companies are taking most of our money anyway with their overpriced gas.

According to OnTheIssues.org, Barack Obama’s voting record holds that he:

Passed tax credit for installing E85 ethanol at gas stations. (Feb 2008)
Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jun 2007)
Voted YES on making oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal. (Jun 2007)
Voted YES on factoring global warming into federal project planning. (May 2007)
Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska’s ANWR. (Nov 2005)
Voted YES on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)

Barack Obama’s voting record does indicate that he is a driving force in the Senate with respect to changing our environmental standards and to pushing our awareness of the issues of global climate change.

Sources:

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Barack_Obama.htm

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_gw_record.html

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/mccain-promises-solutions-on-energy/3861405463