John Kerry On Big Oil

[DrFunkenstein]

Today we have an energy policy of big oil, by big oil and for big oil. It may work for their profits, but it will never work for America. And yet George Bush persists in pursuing a course that can only be described as energy dependence - an approach, that despite all his boasts about a stronger America, will actually risk our hopes, make us weaker, and make both our economy and our country more vulnerable to blackmail by hostile powers.

This President Bush opposes raising fuel economy standards - which are at a 20 year low. He proposes budgets that shortchange investments in clean, renewable, domestic sources of energy like wind, solar, and biomass. He disdains energy conservation. He crafts his energy plan in secret meetings where the doors are open to industry lobbyists, but firmly shut to the public and the public interests. He has kept the official government documents of what happened there secret, but it is plain to see that his Vice President and his Administration put their friends in the oil and energy business first. George Bush and Dick Cheney have put the big oil's interests before the national interest - that's wrong for our environment, wrong for American jobs, wrong for national security.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2003_0613.html

We must provide a catalyst for the work that is already happening at the margins of the energy industry. Shell has invested in wind, solar and biomass; Chevron has invested in solar and fuel cells; and BP has heavily invested in solar and predicts more than $1 billion in sales by 2010. These efforts are smaller than they ought to be -- they stand today as Potemkin Villages on a landscape dominated by the old way of doing things, a landscape that reflects the $1.8 billion federal largesse lavished on oil and gas while alternative efforts compete for the scraps of a mere $24 million in federal venture capital. A technological revolution can change the energy landscape itself, and it's time we accelerate the technology - speed up the development process -- push the curve - and join the competition so that American ingenuity can again lead the world.

To accomplish that and excite even more entrepeneurial activity, I believe we should set a national goal of having 20% of our electricity come from domestic alternative and renewable sources by the year 2020. Twenty-twenty - I think it's a vision worthy of America; a goal I believe our citizens are ready to embrace.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2002_0122.html

[seventhson]

1. DAMN - I Wish Kerry would renounce his membership in Skull and Bones!

Then I might think he was credible.

Funkenstein - can't you do ANYTHING about this or is he married to the Bonesmen for eternity?

[H2O Man]

2. Kerry has the support

of RFK Jr., a great voice of reason in environmental issues. (And way beyond; he helped my family when my nephew was assaulted by a racist hate group.) Kennedy could not be considered a pawn of the oil industry. He would not support a puppet. Yesterday there was a great post on RFK's ripping the bush environmental record. I was sad to see it was ignored by most folks on here. It is one of the single most important reasons to get bush out of office.