FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 29, 2008
CONTACT: David Willett, 202.675.6698
Palin Speech on Energy Policy:
More of the Same or Even Worse
Sarah Palin today addressed energy policy at the Xunlight Corporation in Toledo. The following is a statement from Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director:
"Sarah Palin’s signature achievement in this campaign has been to remove any remaining doubt that John McCain’s energy policy would continue to focus on the same failed Bush policies that have wrecked our economy and left us more dependent on hostile foreign regimes and unreliable, polluting sources of energy.
"Palin has consistently misled Americans about both the role Alaska plays in meeting America’s energy needs and her own policies. The Associated Press revealed last week that the natural gas pipeline she often touts may never be built, could leave taxpayers on the hook for $400 million, and was awarded through a bidding process infiltrated by industry lobbyists and rife with impropriety by Palin and others in her administration. And instead of 'country first,' just last year Palin made sure that Alaska’s natural gas would go to Asia—not America.
"It’s beyond ironic that Sarah Palin chose to appear at a solar power facility considering that John McCain has said that clean energy technologies 'don’t work' and Palin said they were 'far from imminent.' More importantly, McCain has consistently voted against renewable energy, and his failure to support clean energy tax incentives earlier this year put more than 116,000 hardworking Americans in the wind and solar industries on the brink of layoffs. This is just more proof that John McCain is wrong on the economy, wrong on energy, and wrong for Ohio and America.
"And just as we learned about another disturbing safety problem at the extremely troubled Davis Besse nuclear station, McCain twice this week recklessly dismissed Obama’s common sense concerns about safety and national security as mere 'blah blah blah.' McCain’s attitude is particularly unnerving considering that he wants to push forward with a plan to transport more than 77,000 tons of highly dangerous nuclear waste through 44 states to the unsafe and unproven Yucca Mountain waste dump. Yet, McCain has said he ‘wouldn’t be comfortable’ with waste traveling through his home state of Arizona.
"John McCain has even abandoned his own past embrace of meaningful action on global warming. His chief economic advisor now states that upholding the landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision on global warming would amount to Soviet-style economic planning. This is the same ridiculous argument cooked up by polluters and pushed by the Bush administration, which has now unlawfully refused to uphold the High Court’s decision for over a year. John McCain may not be George Bush, but it’s getting awfully difficult to figure out how their policies would be any different.
"Instead of a backward-looking energy policy focused on the past, we need the 21st century energy plan put forward by Barack Obama. His plan will invest $150 billion in clean energy—wind and solar power, energy efficiency, retrofitting our buildings, and manufacturing the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles in factories right here in Ohio and across America—and create 5 million new jobs. His plan will jumpstart our economy and put America back on the path to prosperity."
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