Environmentalists Blast McCain’s Choice of Palin as VP
Friday August 29, 2008
Republican presidential contender John McCain today named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, a decision that drew immediate criticism from many leading environmentalists owing to Palin’s record on several key environmental and energy issues.
Palin favors more offshore oil drilling, is a leading advocate for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration, and claims that there is no relationship between global warming and human activity or greenhouse-gas emissions.
As governor of Alaska, Palin sued the U.S. Interior Department over its decision to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, supports hunting wolves from the air, has pushed to build a controversial natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope, and opposed a windfalls-profit tax on oil companies, which would have provided funding for renewable energy development.
Read what leading environmentalists are saying about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate and possible vice president. Read more...
Poll: Most Americans Now Support Offshore Oil Drilling
Monday August 25, 2008
Sixty nine percent of Americans now favor an increase in offshore oil drilling, and 30 percent oppose it, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll published in early August 2008.
Just over half (51 percent) believe offshore drilling would lower gasoline prices in 2009, while 49 percent disagree. (Results of the opinion survey are based on telephone interviews with 1,041 adult Americans conducted in late July. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.)
Political Pandering Fuels on Consumer Fears and Fantasies
It’s hard to imagine how so many people can believe that adding more offshore oil rigs to America’s coastlines will lower gas prices enough to make a difference, let alone within the next few months, but people will grab at just about any straw when their wallets and their families are affected.
Let’s get serious. Everyone from the American Petroleum Institute to the U.S. Energy Information Administration has said repeatedly that it would take years, probably decades, to start producing oil from any new offshore leases, and even after the oil was flowing the effect on prices would be negligible. And that doesn't even begin to take into consideration the potential environmental costs of placing more offshore oil rigs along America's coastlines and burning even more fossil fuels over the next few decades.
McCain Promises to Lower Gas Prices with Offshore Drilling
About the only person saying that more offshore drilling would provide a quick fix for high gas prices is GOP presidential candidate John McCain, who says it could all happen in just a few months if Congress would just give the oil companies what they want: unrestricted access to America’s coastal waters.
Most Republicans in Congress, including McCain, are in favor of lifting a federal moratorium on offshore drilling that was established in 1981 to protect U.S. waters, arguing that more offshore drilling will increase domestic oil supplies and lower gasoline prices. Democratic leadership wants to keep the ban in place, believing that more offshore drilling will do little to lower prices and would pose a serious threat to the environment.
Democrats Bow to Public Pressure
In response to growing public pressure, however, both Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have said they would be willing to consider including offshore drilling as part of a broader energy solution. Meanwhile, Pelosi has challenged those who support an increase in offshore drilling to prove their case instead of offering more overheated political rhetoric.
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Obama Chooses Biden as Running Mate
Saturday August 23, 2008
Barack Obama today named U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential election.
Biden brings some obvious strengths to the ticket, particularly in foreign relations. Biden currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is considered one of the Senate’s leading experts on U.S. foreign policy. He is also the former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he earned a national reputation for his leadership in opposing the Supreme Court nominations of Clarence Thomas (later confirmed) and Robert Bork.
Joe Biden and the Environment
But where does Biden stand on the environment? Will Biden’s views on energy and the environment complement those of Barack Obama, and will his environmental record help or hinder the Obama campaign? (Learn more about Biden’s views on energy and environmental issues in a detailed summary of his environmental record.)
Born in 1942, Biden trained as a lawyer and was elected to the Senate in 1972. He has represented the people of Delaware as a U.S. Senator for 35 years. During that time he has created an impressive record on issues related to the environment and U.S. energy policy, earning an 83 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his votes on important pieces of environmental legislation.
Biden and Obama hold similar positions on most key energy and environmental issues. It shouldn’t be difficult for them to create a unified approach and to close the gap on the few issues where their views are slightly out of sync.
More difficult to overcome will be statements Biden made about Obama’s lack of experience and readiness to be president during the early months of the campaign when Biden was still a presidential candidate himself. Biden’s early criticisms of Obama are already drawing fire from Republicans trying to exploit a perceived weakness in the new political pairing, but Obama and his advisors surely anticipated that reaction and must have decided their campaign could weather the attacks.
Photos by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Why Do Heat Waves Make Air Quality Worse?
Wednesday August 13, 2008
Air quality during a heat wave not only feels worse, it
is worse. The combination of heat and sunlight creates a "chemical soup" that affects air quality and makes life outdoors nearly unbearable for many people. Find out
how heat waves affect air quality, and what you can do to protect yourself from poor air quality and heat waves.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
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