OntheWilderSide

America needs the Green Party’s solutions to energy and global warming crises, not the Obama or McCain plans, say Greens

Green Party calls rise of gas prices and demand for expanded drilling a manipulation by oil companies seeking control over US energy policy

Green Party candidates and leaders called Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s positions on energy policy, gas prices, and global warming a capitulation to corporate lobbies, and urged adoption of the Green Party’s plan to reduce fossil fuel consumption, generate new jobs in conservation and new energy sources, and curb the advance of climate change.

“America’s first priorities must be conservation and efficiency.  The Green Party has an effective plan to reorganize the economy, create millions of new jobs in conversion to safe clean energy, conservation, and expansion of public transportation to replace car traffic,” said Rosa Clemente, nominated by the Green Party as Cynthia McKinney’s running mate for Vice President of the United States (http://www.rosaclemente.com).  “Such an effort should be comparable to America’s concerted and internationally cooperative effort to defeat the Axis powers during World War II.  But this time we’d be uniting for peace, since global warming threatens the security of the entire world in the coming decades.”

“Without such an effort, the disaster we witnessed in New Orleans during and after Katrina will take place on a global scale.  Billions of people will see their homes, livelihoods, health, and lives threatened, while corporate interests exploit the devastation for more money and power,” added Ms. Clemente.

“Both the McCain and Obama energy plans privilege corporate profits over the urgent need to transforms our nation’s energy policies.  Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama are seeking ways to preserve corporate profits at a time when the future of our planet is at stake,” said John M. Wages, Jr., Green candidate for the US House in Mississippi (District 1) (http://www.VoteJohnWages.com).  “Barack Obama’s support for nuclear power and ethanol and his recent turnaround on offshore drilling prove that he, like John McCain, will not challenge the power and profits of the energy industry.  We need the kind of national leadership on energy and the global warming threat that’s represented by our presidential and congressional Green candidates.”

Exelon, a nuclear power company, is among Barack Obama’s top corporate donors ((Source: Center for Responsive Politics, http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638).  (John McCain’s corporate donor list: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?id=N00006424&cycle2=2008&goButt2.x=7&goButt2.y=6)  Oil industry contributions to Democrats and Republicans in 2008 are already soaring, while the percentage gap between contributions to the two parties’ candidates, though consistently higher for Republicans, has begun to diminish (Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E01).

Greens said that two factors are behind the demand for drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) and in offshore areas, purportedly to reduce dependence on foreign oil:

(1) The oil companies are manipulating prices to create fear among Americans to win support for drilling in these areas.  In fact, Canada increased its exports to the States by almost 100 million barrels between 2005 and 2007, thanks to an oil boom in Alberta’s oil sands, and oil companies have posted record profits recently.

Naomi Klein has written that “drilling in ANWR would have little discernible impact on actual global oil supplies, as its advocates well know.  The argument that it could nonetheless bring down oil prices is based not on hard economics but on market psychoanalysis: drilling would ‘send a message’ to the oil traders that more oil is on the way, which would cause them to start betting down the price.”  (The Nation, July 21, 2008, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/lookout)

(2) Popular fears over gas prices have given the oil industry greater leverage over measures to curb global warming at a time when fossil fuel consumption must be drastically reduced.

Furthermore, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, BP, and other companies are using their increased leverage during the current gas price panic to win oil production contracts in Iraq, which will prolong the US occupation indefinitely.  Sen. Obama, while promising a reduction of US troops in Iraq, would leave a residual occupation force to protect “American interests,” which means US control over Iraqi oil resources.

The Green Party has strongly opposed ANWR and off-shore drilling and trading of carbon caps, and favors bans on new coal fired-power plants, new nuclear power plants (as well as early retirement of current nuclear reactors), and all mountaintop coal removal.  The party endorses a reduction by 90% of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 2012, targeted carbon taxes, investment in renewable noncarbon-based energy technology, and reduction of CO2 and SO2 emissions by 80% by 2020.  These and other policies are listed in a recommendation for environmental action for a Green President’s first 100 days in office (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=58).

Filed under: Corporations, cynthia mckinney, Ecology, election, elections, Environment, Global Warming, grassroots democracy, green, Green Party Websites, Green Presidential Campaign 2008, Political Websites, presidential race, Press Release, Rosa Clemente, US Politics Tagged: | alaska national wildlife reserve, anwr, conservation, corporate donors, drilling, energy, Environment, gasoline, Global Warming, Nuclear, prices