McCain reasserts his green policies

May 13, 2008

The widely covered political story on Monday was about a speech Sen. McCain gave in Portland regarding global warming.  In the speech, McCain attempted to distinguish himself from George Bush’s approach towards the environment by stating, “I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges.”  Some of McCain’s specific policy proposals include: mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the implementation of a cap-and-trade system, and promising to engage China and India diplomatically to encourage international environmental efforts. 

While it is clear that McCain is significantly more pro-environment than the majority of his fellow Republicans (he was the only Republican candidate to be in favor of emission limits and was also the co-sponsor, along with Sen. Lieberman, of one of the early Congressional attempts to implement a cap-and-trade system), he has still received substantial criticism for his environmental voting record, and recently, along with Sen. Clinton, proposed the “lose-lose-lose” policy of repealing the federal gas tax during this summer’s driving season.  If he is really going to convince pro-environment voters that he is a real pro-environment candidate, he may have to ramp up the requirements in his proposed legislation, and will definitely have to work on his consistency (as does Sen. Clinton).

 

… And more on the lose-lose-lose of the McCain/Clinton gas tax proposal:

First “lose”  = it would likely be ineffective, as the oil companies will probably just raise prices to make up for the spread.

Second “lose”  = but if effective, it would remove an incentive to drive less and use mass transit more.

Third “lose” = it would remove a major source of revenue which is needed to fix our aging transportation infrastructure.

Photo credit.

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