GOP Environmental Record A Challenge For McCain (Duh) - SF Chronicle

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In years past, McCain was the darling of the environmentalists for his concern over global warming. McCain, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, independent-Conn., held congressional hearings, brought top scientists to testify and was author of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, which would have required the EPA to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from generation of electricity, transportation, industry and commerce. The bill failed in the Senate. But when McCain started seeking his party's presidential nomination, he backed off his advocacy position. In his convention speech, he didn't mention global warming at all, and in the last year he missed three votes in Congress that would have reduced fossil fuel emissions.

"While Sen. McCain has acknowledged that global warming is real and something needs to be done, he has repeatedly opposed clean energy solutions that would help reduce global warming," said Tiernan Setterfeld, legislative director of the watchdog group, League of Conservation Voters. Terry Tamminen, former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the presidential race has improved, in that now there are two candidates who understand the issue and believe the science on global warming.

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As an Arizonan, McCain has prided himself with moving wilderness bills in Congress and protecting national parks. In statements, he says he wants to protect them for future generations.

Daniel Patterson, an ecologist and Southwest director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said that in his view the senator has not been responsive to conservation concerns. "McCain has been in many ways quietly unsupportive of conservation, even in his own state," said Patterson. "He's failed to try to do anything to protect the Grand Canyon from renewed uranium mining despite requests from members of Arizona's House delegation. If he won't step up to protect the Grand Canyon in his own state, how can we expect anything on the environment but the same type of policies we've seen for the last eight years from Bush and (Vice President Dick) Cheney?"

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/17/MNN413ISMM.DTL