John Kerry's stance on energy policy
Energy Policy: The United States both produces and imports more energy than any other nation in the world. Since 1990, proven oil reserves in the US have dropped by 20%. Meanwhile, China's rapidly increasing energy consumption is placing upward pressure on oil prices, which this month reached prices of 50 dollars per barrel for the first time in history. In the future, some fear American dependence upon energy from volatile areas like the Middle East and Africa could damage our economy.
John Kerry:
Description of Candidate's Position: The United States must make itself independent of volatile sources of energy like the Middle East. To do so, Kerry first wants to increase energy efficiency for both automobiles and buildings. Next, Kerry will create a "Clean Fuels Partnership" with the goal of having the US meet 20 percent of its fuel demand through alternative resources by the year 2020. Furthermore, Kerry wants to diversify sources of energy by increasing coal usage, drilling for natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico, and using nuclear energy. Finally, Kerry wants to modernize our energy grid. However, Kerry did not support the Energy Bill earlier this year because he believes it wouldn't have properly addressed any of these long-term energy solutions.
Quotation from the Candidate: "Our energy plan will embrace a simple but revolutionary goal: harnessing new energy sources to power the world we live in. We believe sources like the sun, wind, and a rich array of crops can provide us with secure forms of energy at reasonable costs for the rest of this century&emdash;but only if we start exploring and developing them today…New renewable and affordable energy sources are not a science fiction dream. With more aggressive leadership and a real plan, we can expand their use today and build an energy-efficient America tomorrow."
From Kerry's book, Our Plan For America, pages 49-52:
Assessment of the Proposal:
Positive: The Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest environmental organization, has endorsed John Kerry for president in part because they believe his energy plan can reduce our nation's dependency on oil and champions technologies which are both efficient and environmentally friendly.
Negative: The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, believes that Kerry's energy plan has allied with environmentalists and will prevent job creation by blocking long-term abundant sources of energy like ANWR.
Comparison: Bush also believes that energy independence must be the primary goal of any energy policy. To do so, Bush created the Energy Bill which Kerry has opposed. Bush has placed his primary emphasis on energy production, but has also proposes increasing the use of renewable energy and creating more efficient energy technologies.
Link to Bush's energy brief