Kerry Plan Seeks Fuel Efficiency, Stability
The Democratic hopeful unveils his $30-billion, 20-year proposal for energy independence.
August 7, 2004
THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
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latimes.com
By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
SMITHVILLE, Mo. - With petroleum prices surging
to record heights, Sen. John F. Kerry outlined an
ambitious plan Friday to lessen the nation's dependence
on foreign oil in the next 20 years and put Americans in
more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
"Folks, we can do better," the Democratic presidential
hopeful said, unveiling his $30-billion plan before a
crowd seated on hay bales at a family farm outside
Kansas City, Mo.
Kerry's proposal sets twin goals: that 20% of the
nation's electricity and 20% of its motor fuel come from
alternative sources such as wind, solar power,
soy-based diesel and corn-based ethanol by the year
2020.
To achieve that, he called for spending $1 billion a year
over the next 10 years to help U.S. automakers retool
their factories to build cleaner-burning vehicles.
His plan would also provide tax breaks of as much as
$5,000 for consumers who purchase those cars and
trucks.
Anticipating criticism, the Massachusetts senator said
he was not trying to forcibly downsize America's motor
pool.
"You want to drive a great big SUV? Terrific. Terrific. That's America," said
Kerry, whose fleet of family cars includes sport utility vehicles. "But don't you
think it makes sense to be able to drive one that gets better fuel mileage and is
more efficient and saves you money? That's all. That's all we're trying to do."
Kerry highlighted his proposals - some old, some new - during the eighth day
of a cross-country barnstorming tour taking him from Boston, where he accepted
the Democratic nomination last week, to California and up the West Coast into
Oregon.
The setting Friday was the Smithville farm of Jim and Ruth Nelson in one of the
most politically competitive stretches of closely divided Missouri. Four years ago,
Al Gore beat George W. Bush by 25 votes out of nearly 80,000 cast in Clay
County, a mix of farms, suburbs and a part of Kansas City. Overall, Bush carried
the state, 50% to 47%.
The Nelsons grow corn and soybeans and raise cattle and a few horses on their
640-acre farm on Missouri's western edge. About 30 minutes away, in Kansas
City, Ford is producing the first American-made hybrid SUV, which will run on a
combination of gasoline and electricity.
The blue-jean clad Kerry, standing before a backdrop of cornstalks, skipped
over most of the particulars of his energy plan. Instead, he spoke in broad terms,
saying the reliance on renewable energy sources, such as corn and soybeans,
would help farmers' pocketbooks while boosting the nation's security.
Without using the word Iraq, Kerry suggested that President Bush's foreign policy
had driven up the cost of oil by an additional $8 to $15 a barrel - a surcharge
"entirely attributable to the instability of the world today."
"If we can run a more effective foreign policy … we can tampen down the
instability," Kerry said, suggesting energy independence is even more important
amid "the war on terror, where much of the focus of that war is in the Middle
East."
"Guess what else is in the Middle East?" Kerry said. "Oil."
Along with pushing for more fuel-efficient vehicles, his plan proposes:
o Spending $5 billion over 10 years on a "clean fuels partnership" among
government, agriculture and industry to promote research into fuels made from
corn, soybeans, agricultural waste and other sources. Another $5 billion would
promote jobs in clean-energy technologies.
o Spending $10 billion to convert coal-fired utility plants into cleaner, more
efficient facilities.
o Enacting efficiency standards and financial incentives to cut the government's
energy bill by 20% a year and to help states, cities, school districts and
consumers do the same.
Kerry told the invited crowd of about 150 that his plan would be financed
through existing oil and gas royalties, through extending a tax on corporate
polluters and through stricter fuel-efficiency standards that would cut the
government's energy bill and provide $2 billion a year.
The Bush campaign denounced Kerry's proposal, saying it would do precisely the
opposite of what he claimed.
"John Kerry's record on energy is one of advocating policies that would raise
energy prices across the board for working families and businesses, weaken the
economy, lower disposable incomes, and cause massive job losses in key
industries, as well as making America more dependent on foreign sources of
energy," the campaign said in a statement issued before Kerry spoke.
"His current efforts to fund renewable energy and conservation follow in large
part exactly what President Bush is already doing, and echoes the president's
energy plan that Kerry worked to block."
Vice President Dick Cheney said this week that the president's energy plan -
long stalled in Congress - would increase oil drilling and offer tax incentives to
spur conservation, exploration and production.
"John Kerry and John Edwards voted no," Cheney said at a campaign stop in
Arkansas, citing what he called a significant difference between the Democrats
and Republicans.
Kerry has opposed the energy bill, in part because it would allow drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Kerry has spoken for well over a year about lessening the nation's dependence
on foreign oil and has repeatedly pushed for increased funding to promote
alternative and renewable energy sources.
He has also called for streamlining the more than 300 regulations that govern the
distribution and sale of gasoline around the country.
But the issue has taken on renewed salience with oil trading at $45 a barrel,
which experts say will soon translate to higher prices at the pumps. |
