Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, made a bid for green votes on Friday when he unveiled an energy plan that would, among other things, tighten fuel-economy standards for automobiles and push the U.S. toward getting 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Kerry wants to end U.S. dependence on Middle East oil imports within a decade. “The threats that America faces today don’t just come from gun barrels, they come from gas pumps — and we need to disarm that danger,” Kerry told an audience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “No foreign government can embargo clean domestic renewable sources of energy and no terrorists can seize control of them.” Kerry proposed launching a new fund that would finance research into renewable energy sources and spending $1 billion a year to help the U.S. auto industry build more eco-friendly vehicles. He said his plan would create 500,000 new jobs over a decade.
