Handy Chart On Democratic Candidates' Energy Policy Stances - Energy Bulletin/Daily Kos

[hatrack]

Which of the major Democratic party candidates has the best energy platform? I thought I'd do a comparison based on what I could find on their websites and some interviews. The good news is that all four of Edwards, Obama, Richardson, and Clinton have either "Energy" or "Energy and Environment" as one of the top-level platform issues on their sites. The not-so-good news is the content of those platform proposals. Details below!

To facilitate comparisons I broke down the candidates' energy plans into 14 significant policy areas, with an additional note on the detail level of the plans and a final "miscellaneous" category for special ideas found in each. Every one of the proposals has something that seems unique and useful, but not all will do as much to solve our energy and climate problems.

(Ed. - please link for chart).

EDIT

http://www.energybulletin.net/33024.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. for comparison

here is the page with Kucinich's stand on energy:

http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/energy.php

[cosmicdot]

3. thanks for posting that link

here's the link to his Environmental-Energy proposals ... each section having "more info" links

http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/environmental

Environmental Issues

Clean Air

We need a President who will reinvigorate the Clean Air Act and work to eliminate the pollutants in the air we breathe. We need a President who will join world efforts to curb global warming; who will ratify the Kyoto Protocol, spur research and development into clean-burning, renewable fuels, and move the United States to 20% renewable energy use by 2010.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/clean_air.php


Clean Water

Dennis Kucinich Plan for Clean Water for All

In Summary:

Strengthen and enforce air and water regulation and protections

Reward environmentally-responsible farmers and businesses

Stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/cleanwater.php


Electronic Waste

Electronic waste, or e-waste, represents the broad and growing range of electronic devices produced mainly in the last two decades as an inevitable by-product of the Information or High-Tech Revolution. From cell phones and video games to televisions and computer equipment, e-waste is now the fastest growing waste stream in the industrialized world, produced by the world's largest growing manufacturing industry: electronics. Experts believe that by the year 2004, over 315 million computers will become obsolete, leaving approximately 1.2 billion pounds of lead, 2 millions pounds of cadmium, and 4 billion pounds of plastics in the waste stream.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/e_waste.php


Energy

Thanks to advances in renewables, there are fewer technical obstacles to energy independence for our country. There are many political obstacles -- but the oil, auto and electric utility corporations should not be directing energy policy. We must work to spur research and investment in "alternative" energy sources such as hydrogen, solar, wind and ocean, and make them mainstream. Clean energy technologies will produce new jobs. We can and must double our energy from renewable sources by 2010. And we can very soon have hybrid and fuel cell cars dominating the market.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/energy.php


Environment

The EPA under the Bush Administration has stood for Every Polluter's Ally. The air and the water and the land are viewed by this administration as just another commodity to be used for private profit. We as a nation must turn our efforts towards the great work of restoring our air and our water and our land. We must view our natural resources as the common property of all humanity -- even more, as the commonwealth of all humanity. And so my candidacy arises from a philosophy of interdependence and interconnection, which respects the environment as a precondition for our survival.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/environment.php


Forests and Logging on Public Lands

Our society has shown a fundamental disregard for the ecosystems that provide life on this planet. The United States was originally blanketed with a billion acres of forest. Now only 40 million acres remain uncut. Forests provide clean water and clean air. They regulate climate and provide soil stability and wildlife habitat, including habitat for fish and for the pollinators of food crops. Many modern medicines are derived from the forest. Our very survival as a species depends upon intact forests, yet we have destroyed 96% of our original forests.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/forests_and_logging.php


Genetically Engineered Food

Genetically engineered food (GEF) poses grave risks, and much serious research into the potential harms is needed. The dominant voices in the public debate over genetically engineered food have been those of the agri-business and biotechnology industries. These multinational companies have invested millions of dollars into the research and development of GEF. They claim that genetically engineered food is safe and that it is associated with good environmental practices. Of course, there is a huge conflict of interest when the leading authorities on GEF are the same industries that hope to profit by them.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/geneticallyfood.php


Hemp

Re-legalizing the Commercial Growing of Industrial Hemp in the United States
Since 1937, Federal laws have criminalized a harmless plant. Outdated attitudes and drug war paranoia in Washington have limited the many uses of this vital plant and have even prohibited its growth in the United States.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/hemp.php


Nuclear Safety

Nuclear waste poses a serious threat to this nation. The transportation of this waste will require over 96,000 truck shipments over four decades. Almost every major east-west interstate highway and mainland railroad in the country will experience high-level waste shipments. More radioactive waste will be shipped in the first full year of repository operations than has been transported in the entire five-decade history of spent fuel shipments in the United States.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/nuclearsafety.php


Organic Farming

I am proud to give strong and unwavering support to our organic family farmers. This approach to the land provides the safest foods, the best incomes for our farmers, and new products for this nation to export.

» read more http://www2.kucinich.us/issues/organic_farming.php

[mopinko]

2. could you please include al?

let's face it, he deserves the props. i think that this is one area that is tempting al to run. the rest of them just do not get it.