John McCain's Generally Rotten Environmental Record - 3 Votes Against Renewable Energy In 2002 Alone

[hatrack]

EDIT

McCain Opposes Renewable Electricity. A renewable electricity standard would require utilities to generate a certain portion of their electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources. Twenty six states, including Arizona, have such requirements. In 2002 and 2005, there were votes in the Senate to require utilities nationwide to generate 10 percent or 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources. Sen. McCain voted against renewable electricity every time.

2005: Voted against a renewable portfolio standard

2002: Voted against 20 percent requirement:

2002 (Vote 55): Voted to gut 10 percent requirement:

2002 (Vote 59): voted to gut 10 percent requirement:

McCain Voted Against Important Efficiency Standards. In 2002, Sen. McCain voted against an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) that would have restored a standard to require a 30 percent increase in efficiency for air conditioners. It would have saved consumers $1 billion on their electric bills, reduced energy use enough to avoid construction of 45 new power plants, and reduced greenhouse gases by 2.5 million metric tons. President Bush had blocked this rule, and Sen. McCain's vote supported him. <4/25/02>

McCain Has No Plan To Increase Energy Efficiency. Though a recent study by McKinsey &Co. found that the best way to make deep cuts in carbon emissions is to improve energy efficiency of buildings, appliances, and other energy consumers, McCain's understanding of the problem is woefully lacking. He has proposed a program of "energy audits," a system Dr. Joseph Romm calls "a weak, uncoordinated, narrowly-targeted action. They will barely have any impact when it comes to large commercial users who can already afford them."

A Weak Record on Fighting Global Warming
McCain's Conservative Judges Will Roll Back Necessary Climate Change Legislation. McCain has repeatedly promised to appoint "strict constructionistÖ Öof the character and quality of Justices Roberts and Alito." Yet as Dr. Joseph Romm, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy warned, "the conservative justices almost thwarted the majority in the landmark Massachusetts v. EPA case, in which the court decided 5-4 that the EPA has the authority and responsibility to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant."

McCain Won't Support Global Warming Solutions Without Huge Role for Nukes. Sen. McCain was recently asked about the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 18 percent by 2020, and 62 percent by 2050. This level of reductions is within the range recommended by scientists to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. He said that "I will support if we have a dramatically increased role for nuclear powerÖNuclear power has got to be a very big part of any effective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

McCain-Lieberman Emissions Cuts Are Weak. McCain's Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, S. 280, would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent by 2020, and by 50 percent by 2050. This level of emissions reductions was deemed valuable when the bill was first introduced in 2003, but new scientific urgency since then has overtaken it. Its lower level of reductions would probably fail to stave off the worst impacts of global warming. The reductions are less than the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, S. 2191.

McCain Boasts of Global Warming Record, But Solutions Are Absent From His Website. The "environment" page of the "issues" category of his website acknowledges the importance of limiting carbon emissions, but gives no specific policy that he would advocate to do so.

McCain's Climate Message Is "Bush-Lite" And "Insubstantial." Michael Shank, of the Foreign Policy in Focus think tank, said that McCain's climate message is "not only Bush-lite, but also insubstantial." Shank pointed out that "their approaches are strikingly similar and sadly unassertive: let innovation, technology, and the free market solve the problem. According to both, business will lead and the greening of America will follow." Shank pointed out, "The only main difference between the two is that Bush would rely on ethanol subsidies to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil while for McCain leans heavily toward nuclear energy."

EDIT/END

And much, MUCH more at:

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_gw_record.html

[Ytzak]

1. Perhaps McCain had a senior moment and simply forgot...

all of those votes.