John McCain

McCain on nuclear waste problem

With John McCain in Nevada today promoting, among other things, his love of nuclear power, Sierra Club is circulating this video of McCain talking about nuclear waste. McCain’s a proponent of using Yucca Mountain to dispose of the waste, and a lot of Nevadans don’t like that idea very much. In the video, though, he […]

McCain names his energy plan and bashes Barack Obama while he’s at it

John McCain gave another energy speech today (bringing the grand total in the past week to four), this one in Las Vegas. It seems like the big new thing in this speech is that he’s given a name to the various components of his energy plan that he’s rolled out slowly over the past week: […]

Obama lays out an energy vision that’s economics and security first

I just read the energy speech Obama gave on Tuesday in Nevada. I’d call it a TKO if I didn’t sound so unconvincing using boxing metaphors. Watch what he leads with: "A green, renewable energy economy isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future, it is now." This is what the campaign, correctly in my judgment, has decided […]

Talking with voters in Portland about the environment and the election

 

This is part of a series of dispatches from Melinda Henneberger, who's talking to voters around the U.S. about their views on the environment and the election.

Portland, Ore. -- Oh, the indignity of tooling around environmentally aware Portland in a big-dog SUV, in between conversations about the environment. Even the guy at the rental-car counter was apologetic: "I know," he said, when I gulped at the news that my economy car had been super-sized. "No one wants them, but we have to give them to somebody."

Just as gay people grow up and move to San Francisco or New York, green people grow up and move here. Years before I began sorting bottles and cans on the other coast, my buddy who is a Kansan-turned-Oregonian was struggling to convey just how bad her new boss really was: "Melinda," she finally told me, "he does not even recycle."

My friend's next-door neighbors are transplanted Texans, Linda d'Onofrio and Andrew Migliore, who as d'Onofrio says "came here for local produce and a forward way of thinking." Even so, it took them a while to settle in with their chosen tribe: "I didn't grow up around political correctness, and we had a hard time the first couple of years," says d'Onofrio. "We'd say tasteless things about everybody's race, religion, animals; we'd make kitty taco jokes" -- not widely appreciated by "people who will stop you on the street and tell you what they think of your Hummer." Now, though, this is home, and the whole moment is more subdued: "My sister's a true Communist who goes around the world teaching micro-banking, my brother's a true Fascist with his boots in the corner, and we used to have the best conversations, but all the fun has been sucked out of that. The conversation has stopped because it's not funny anymore; you can't make jokes about Abu Ghraib and melting ice caps."

GOP candidate calls for energy efficiency in a California speech

John McCain gave yet another address on energy and environmental issues today (the third in the past week, if you’re counting), this one focused on energy efficiency, which he says should begin at home with the federal government. “Energy efficiency is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue,” he told a crowd […]

My kingdom for a so-called expert

Sam Stein goes looking for an energy expert who will endorse John McCain’s contention that oil drilling will provide short-term price relief. You can guess the rest.

McCain ad touts energy policy, including the not-so-new ideas

John McCain released a new ad today touting his plan for energy independence. “We must shift our entire energy economy toward new and cleaner power sources such as wind, solar, biofuels,” says McCain in the ad. “It will include a variety of new automotive and fuel technologies, clean-burning coal, and nuclear energy.” It also promotes […]

McCain calls for $300 million prize for the designer of a better electric-car battery

Republican presidential contender John McCain gave a speech in Fresno, Calif., today calling for a $300 million prize, paid by the government, to be awarded to the person who can design a better electric car battery. “This is one dollar for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. — a small price to pay […]

I think Friedman is upset with Bush

The Mustache kicks ass today. He says it’s “hard for [him] to find the words to express what a massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for an energy policy” Bush is backing, but he manages fairly well. Extra kudos for highlighting the absurd refusal of Republicans to renew the PTC and ITC. One ommission: he doesn’t mention […]