Monday, November 3, 2008

Vote Green!

It’s just a few hours until the first polls will open in what might be considered one of the greatest election of our time.

We hope by now that everyone has had a chance to review the candidates’ positions on the key issues. To pump you up for tomorrow, we thought it would be fitting to review the highlights from each of the candidates’ environmental policies.

Read with care and when voting be sure to think about the state of the world today and how you hope to leave it for future generations.

Happy voting!


CLIMATE CHANGE
* Obama's economic plan would cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and require fuel suppliers to cut carbon content by 10 percent by 2020.
* McCain's policy favors a local level adaptation plan, based upon national and regional scientific assessments of the impacts of climate change. He sponsored legislation in 2007 to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2050.

GASOLINE PRICES
* Obama's plan would probe energy industry activities and stop filling the emergency oil reserve.
* McCain's plan would suspend the federal gasoline tax during the peak summer driving season and suspend filling the emergency oil reserve, a stockpile designed to ensure the United States has a cushion of crude oil to cope with major supply disruptions.

OIL USE AND PRODUCTION
* Obama's policy would aim to reduce overall U.S. oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels per day, by 2030 to offset imports from OPEC nations.
* McCain's plan supports expanding domestic oil exploration and production

VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY
* Obama's policy would double fuel economy standards in 18 years, give automakers tax credits to retool plants and invest in advanced lightweight materials and new engines.
* McCain's plan would increase CAFE standards (mileage requirements that manufacturers' cars must meet). He believes penalties for not following these standards must be effective enough to compel all carmakers to produce fuel-efficient vehicles.

BIOFUELS
* Obama's plan favors boosting the renewable fuel standard to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030, building the ethanol distribution infrastructure, mandating that all new vehicles be "flex-fuel" by the end of 2012 and seeking production of 2 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol from non-corn sources like switchgrass by 2013.
* McCain's policies support flex-fuel vehicles and aim to eliminate mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions, which would create better options for fuel needs.

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