Candidate Positions

Original source: http://johnedwards.com/about/issues/energy/new-energy-economy/

The Edwards Plan:

Cap and Reduce Global Warming Pollution: Edwards will set an economy-wide limit on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. He will build on the precedent of the Clean Air Act of 1990 — which limited pollution causing acid rain through a sulfur dioxide cap-and-trade system — to reduce pollution in a cost-effective and flexible manner.

Use Science to Set the Caps: Edwards will cap greenhouse gases at levels that the latest climate science has determined to be necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. He will cap greenhouse pollution starting in 2010, reduce it by at least 15 percent by 2020, and reduce it by 80 percent by 2050, consistent with the most aggressive plans under consideration in Washington.

Make Polluters Pay: Edwards will auction off a portion of the pollution permits to raise $10 billion a year for a New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart clean, renewable, and efficient energy technologies and create 1 million jobs. Other permits will be sold or given away.

Lead the World toward a New Global Climate Change Treaty: Climate change is an international problem and the U.S. can never solve it alone. China is building the equivalent of one large coal-fired power plant a week and is expected to pass the U.S. as the world’s largest polluter of carbon dioxide in 2009. [NYT, 3/17/2007; WSJ, 3/3/2007]
To lead the world toward a new, effective climate change treaty, Edwards will:

Make Our Own Commitments to Restore Our Moral Leadership: The U.S. has 4 percent of the world’s population but produces a quarter of its carbon dioxide emissions. It is one of only three developed nations that has refused to limit its greenhouse gas pollution. By adopting caps, Edwards will help the U.S. regain credibility in the world without sacrificing American competitiveness. [Irish Times, 2/14/2007; Greenwire, 10/31/2006]

Original source: http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2005/11/08/hillary-clinton/

Hillary Clinton has joined a growing claque of both Democrats and Republicans swigging from the cup of clean-energy Kool-Aid as they gear up for the 2006 congressional elections. In the past two months, the New York senator has popped up at a major Arctic Refuge rally, a high-profile global-warming conference, and a clean-technology investor symposium to make fervent calls for cleaner, greener energy policy.

…..

…proposed that Big Oil, now raking in sky-high profits, pay fees that could add up to $20 billion annually for a “Strategic Energy Fund” that would defray soaring home-heating costs and bankroll alternative-energy development. She called for doubling current tax credits for the purchase of hybrids and clean-diesel vehicles, and proposed that the feds stop buying “old-fashioned” cars and trucks by 2010 and start replacing fleets with cleaner, more efficient models.

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