Obama, Where Art Thou?
Barack Obama, the Democratic Senator from Illinois, announced his presidential candidacy today. Well, kinda sorta -- he formed an exploratory committee.
While Sen. Obama has gotten high marks from environmentalists, he ran afoul of them just last week when he introduced, along with Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning, the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007. Coal-to-liquid (CTL) would take America's prodigious coal reserves and turn them into diesel fuel -- a good thing for Obama's home-state coal industry and American energy independence, but a very dangerous one in terms of global warming, which Obama has publicly recognized as a problem in need of urgent remedy.
In fact, at the same time that Obama is supporting the dubious promise of "clean coal," he is also joining potential presidential rival John McCain in re-introducing legislation to cap and rollback carbon dioxide emissions. And earlier, he introduced the Biofuels Security Act to ramp up use of ethanol and biodiesel -- to the tune of 60 billion gallons a year by 2030.
All this adds up to a muddled picture of where Senator Obama stands. For now, it seems, he's in two places at once.
Update June 2007: Obama Walks Away From Liquid Coal. On his blog, Climate Progress, Joe Romm notes that Obama has now clarified his position in ways that are "all but fatal" to coal-to-liquid. That's welcome news.
While Sen. Obama has gotten high marks from environmentalists, he ran afoul of them just last week when he introduced, along with Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning, the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007. Coal-to-liquid (CTL) would take America's prodigious coal reserves and turn them into diesel fuel -- a good thing for Obama's home-state coal industry and American energy independence, but a very dangerous one in terms of global warming, which Obama has publicly recognized as a problem in need of urgent remedy.
In fact, at the same time that Obama is supporting the dubious promise of "clean coal," he is also joining potential presidential rival John McCain in re-introducing legislation to cap and rollback carbon dioxide emissions. And earlier, he introduced the Biofuels Security Act to ramp up use of ethanol and biodiesel -- to the tune of 60 billion gallons a year by 2030.
All this adds up to a muddled picture of where Senator Obama stands. For now, it seems, he's in two places at once.
Update June 2007: Obama Walks Away From Liquid Coal. On his blog, Climate Progress, Joe Romm notes that Obama has now clarified his position in ways that are "all but fatal" to coal-to-liquid. That's welcome news.
5 Comments:
Now this is an excellent blog entry... very informative. I was completely unaware of Obama's two faced position on environmental issues. This illustrates why it is so hard for many of us to trust politicians to do anything about saving our earth (we know Bush never will). I for one will be casting my 2008 vote, at least as of now, primarily on environmental issues and this info causes me to take a closer, even more skeptical look at Obama. Keep up the good work and thank you for the information.
Yes, good info -- but please, compared to what? Yes, this latest kerfuffle blemishes Obama's strong enviro record, but what are the alternatives? Can we get a more complete picture and a little context instead of a knee-jerk reaction every news cycle?
Al Gore, if memory serves, had a mixed bag on enviro issues other than climate change...and I don't think Hilary's record is free of compromise and good ol' political horsetrading...
Obama's strong enviro record??? Please do tell, seriously, because I have not heard anything about his record. It may be a great record but the fact we haven't heard about it tells me the media does not take him seriously when all is said and done.
Senator Obama has lost all credibility he may have been earning. His "biofuel" legislation caters to the largest ethanol manufacturer in the U.S., Archer Daniels Midland, who just happen to be headquartered in Illinois, which is also the country's 3rd largest recipient of farm subsidies. Maybe if he spent less time on ADM's private jets and a little more down here with the "ordinary voters", he might hear the cries of people in Illinois (and elsewhere) who do NOT support or believe all the ethanol propaganda. The food-vs-fuel debate is front and center, but not near as many people are aware of the massive amounts of water an ethanol distillery consumes. The 4,500 residents of Paxton, Illinois use 650,000 gallons of water per day; a propsed ethanol distillery would devour 1.86 MILLION GALLONS of water every day. I don't suppose Obama wants to know what those residents think of his "Biofuel Security." Increased pollution, excessive and poor use of fresh water, and massive subsidies for a proven loser such as ethanol paint a clear picture of Obama. There is a big difference between representing your state and LEADING our country. I had such high hopes for him.....
Obama exposed as greenwashing, compared to genuine E-republican John McCain.
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