Reason 6 to Vote Obama: Better Energy Plans

Note: If you’ve come here looking for my writeups for the Reference Renaissance confererence, please visit http://alaskanlibrarian.wordpress.com/category/rr2008/. If you’re willing to see why you should vote to make Barack Obama our next President, keep reading. If you’d like to read my past reasons for voting Obama, please visit http://alaskanlibrarian.wordpress.com/category/WhyVoteObama/.

I was going to hold back on discussing Senator Obama’s good energy plans until closer to the election. But since he himself has been emphasizing this issue the past week or so, I should follow along.

Before I get into his specific plans for energy, I want to make a few general comments. I believe that the West’s dependence on petroleum is a dagger pointed at its throat. High petroleum prices mostly benefit America’s enemies. I also believe in peak oil, as does Bush’s Energy Information Administration. There is argument about the time frame, whether it’s now or towards the end of the century, but our possible supplies are finite, while there is no bound on world energy demand. This means that over the course of time, oil will be more expensive. There may be dips here and there, but the general trend in oil prices is upwards.

There is also a world market for oil. Even if we recover every bit of oil domestically that our technology will allow, oil prices are still going to rise because oil not sold to us will be sold to China, India and other newly industrializing powers. And because the United States is reluctant to interfere with global commodity markets, our oil will be sold to the highest bidder just like any other oil. Production alone will not give consumers a break. Only by reducing demand for oil and ultimately getting off petroleum altogether will cause a collapse in oil prices and take the wind out of the sails of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, Venezula and other states whose power to oppose our interests is grounded in petrodollars.

Senator Obama understands this. So what does he want to do?

Eliminate Our Need for Middle Eastern and Venezuelan Oil within 10 Years

*      Increase Fuel Economy Standards.

Obama will increase fuel economy standards 4 percent per year while providing $4 billion for domestic automakers to retool their manufacturing facilities in America to produce these vehicles.

*      Get 1 Million Plug-In Hybrid Cars on the Road by 2015.

These vehicles can get up to 150 miles per gallon. Barack Obama believes we should work to ensure these cars are built here in America, instead of factories overseas.

*      Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles.

*      Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

Obama will establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to reduce the carbon in our fuels 10 percent by 2020. Obama will also require 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels to be phased into our fuel supply by 2030.

*      A “Use it or Lose It” Approach to Existing Oil and Gas Leases.

Obama will require oil companies to develop the 68 million acres of land (over 40 million of which are offshore) which they have already leased and are not drilling on.

*      Promote the Responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas.

An Obama administration will establish a process for early identification of any infrastructure obstacles/shortages or possible federal permitting process delays to drilling in the Bakken Shale formation, the Barnett shale formation, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

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Will this emphasis on conservation and alternative energy sources cost jobs? No. Because Senator Obama has ideas on how to create new jobs while stepping down our petroleum dependence:

Create Millions of New Green Jobs

*      Ensure 10 percent of Our Electricity Comes from Renewable Sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

*      Deploy the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Energy Source — Energy Efficiency.

Obama will set an aggressive energy efficiency goal — to reduce electricity demand 15 percent from projected levels by 2020.

*      Weatherize One Million Homes Annually.

Obama will make a national commitment to weatherize at least one million low-income homes each year for the next decade, which can reduce energy usage across the economy and help moderate energy prices for all.

*      Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology.

Obama’s Department of Energy will enter into public private partnerships to develop five “first-of-a-kind” commercial scale coal-fired plants with clean carbon capture and sequestration technology.

*      Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.

As president, Obama will work with the Canadian government, state of Alaska, oil and gas producers, and other stakeholders to facilitate construction of the pipeline. Not only is this pipeline critical to our energy security, it will create thousands of new jobs.

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While I don’t think Senator Obama’s plan goes far enough, it is a good start. And it is light years ahead of Senator McCain’s plans which at best would replace one foreign dependence (oil) with another foreign dependence (uranium) and at worst simply continues the Bush policies which helped give us $120/barrel oil.