Kerry Offers 10 - Year Plan for U.S. Energy Independence

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-campaign-kerry.html

Kerry Offers 10 - Year Plan for U.S. Energy Independence
By REUTERS

Filed at 11:30 a.m. ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - With crude oil prices at a record high, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Friday offered a 10-year, $30 billion proposal to move the nation toward energy independence.

Under the measure, aides said, American companies and consumers would receive financial aid to develop and buy more fuel-efficient motor vehicles.

In addition, it would set twin goals to have, by the year 2020, an even 20 percent of the nation's motor fuel and electricity come from alternative sources such as solar, wind, ethanol and biodiesel fuel.<snip>

The measure would provide $10 billion to help automakers retool plants to build high-technology, fuel-efficient vehicles, and give consumers a tax credit of up to $5,000 to buy them.

It would also earmark $5 billion for a research partnership between government and industry into fuels made from agricultural waste, and $10 billion to transform the current generation of coal-fired utility plants into cleaner and more efficient facilities.<snip>

[Inland]

1. $30 Billion! That's about two months in Iraq, how's he going pay for it

[midnight armadillo]

2. Why do companies need help?

Remember the Partnership for the Next Generation Vehicle? billions down the Detroit rathole. The gov should fund development of risky technologies, and let the corps do their own damn R&D to meet public standards for efficiency. If engines can make like 2.5x more power than they did 20 years ago and with less emissions, then maybe some of that R&D effort could be shifted towards making them more efficient.

[kestrel91316]

3. Re energy independence

Hey, Big John, this not anywhere near ambitious enough. How about taking a cue from the other JFK? Give this nation the goal of independence from middle-eastern petroleum within 10 years, and complete energy self-sufficiency in 20 years, and then move heaven and earth to make it happen!!!!!!!! Immediately end all subsidies of non-US petroleum/natural gas/coal, phase out subsidies of US petroleum/natural gas/coal, and get us into renewables and biodiesel FAST!!! Stop wasting money on war in the middle east, and spend all those billions developing alternatives to give us a diverse base from which to draw upon. We need to do this not only to make Saudi Arabia, al Quaeda, and those other guys irrelevant to us, but to ensure a world to live in that is not dying of greenhouse-effect-induced global climate change. Can we make this our life's work? Will future generations thank us? Is it our patriotic duty? Think about it.