What if there was a vote to decide if $13.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies should go into oil alternatives, like solar and wind? What would you want your Senator to do?

Well, as you probably guessed, there was such a vote. We needed 60 votes to prevail, and 59 of them were in. But John McCain ducked the vote.1

As a result, instead of powering millions of homes with clean energy and building next-generation solar technology, we're giving ExxonMobil and other companies billions in tax breaks at a time when they're already making record profits.

This vote is political dynamite. And if we all pitch in, we can make sure voters know about McCain's give-away to big oil. And it's a twofer—we'll run the ad in the battleground state of North Carolina to help remind voters that Senator Elizabeth Dole, who's up for re-election, voted for big oil tax breaks, too.

Check out the ad here:

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead...81-3vOQCax&t=3

The ad links Republican support for oil tax breaks with the campaign contributions they're taking from the oil companies.

Exposing their favors for big oil can puncture Republican promises to help people hurting from high gas prices.

Our ad can help defeat McCain, win a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and promote real solutions to the energy crisis. Can you help put this ad on the air?


https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead...81-3vOQCax&t=4


Source:
1. "Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007," U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote, December 13, 2007
U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote

BABRAM

I'm not surprised. McCain is unstable and can be bought. The guy turned his back on his wife and family after coming home from Nam.

inthebox

The bill was more government expansion!

^ fuel economy standards does not bode well for domestic manufacturers and their employees.

Mandating cfc bulbs ---- no choice for the consumer.

Good for ethanol but not really solar or wind.

Energy Law Leaves Out Wind, Solar Tax Credits : NPR


Besides whose car runs on wind or solar? With the voting consumer paying > $3.50 per gallon, will solar and wind really help? If so when?

As the technology stands now there isn't the infrastructure or the capability to make wind or solar power cars.

In addition, solar and wind cannot serve as "base" energy sources like coal or nuclear.

The reality is that transportation fuel [ as well as plastics, pharmaceuticals etc.] is oil. High oil costs, high production costs, higher costs passed on to consumer.

High oil costs due to higher demand and diminishing or limited supply.

Reduce demand, I'm all for conserving and increasing efficiency, that is a consumer choice that should be determined by the marketplace not government. And consumers are already making these choices without the government telling them to do so.

Increase supply, even if it is in the future, it will drive down speculation. And had this been done 10- 30 years earlier, we might not be in this situation.

BABRAM

Actually McCain voted neither way. I thought maybe he would had voted "nay" if he was concerned about back end pork. According to the presented link it clearly shows McCain was the lone "not voting." Maybe he just took the day off and didn't feel comfortable one way or the other. Anyway, H.R. 6 renewable energy fuels doesn't single out a particular source as ethanol, although at the time I'm sure it was on the table. There's a tendency for most everybody to think transportation first because we all felt the gas prices that immediately hit our pocket books, and because of such, home energy is often overlooked in the equation. Solar and wind has to do with homes. The direction thus far of alternative hybrid vehicles being aimed at mostly electricity.


H.R. 6 (Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 )

Measure Title: An Act to move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts:

YEAs 59
NAYs 40
Not Voting 1

tomder55

yeah I think they should build the next wind farm at Hyannis Port in the Nantucket Sound .Alot of wind comes from there !
Instead of taking credits from the oil companies I'd prefer that they 1st shifted rediculous subsidies from the disasterous corn to ethanol industry .

tomder55

Last year Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) cancelled an ambitious project to construct a 140 megawatt wind project 3 miles off the south shore of Long Island New York. The project's estimated costs ballooned to $811 million including transmission lines, making it financially unfeasible, even with huge government subsidies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/nyregion/24lipa.html

Now mayor Bloomberg desires to put windmills on NYC skyscrapers and off it's beaches .I think it will go over as well as his congestion-pricing plan for down-town NYC.

BABRAM

Actually I only have one question of issue for T. Boone Pickens. If the entrepreneur capitalized on Americans using the oil industry (and his family did), why should anybody accept his motives to be any different on alternative "wind" energy??? It's not that I don't think the wind energy is not viable, I think it is, but what is his sudden motives??? I suspect it's the shift from making profits on oil to pushing the next hopeful booming business.

tomder55

He saw how profitable it was for the Goracle.

I like Pickens and if he can make it work all the more power to him. What I don't like is his apparent begging at the alter of the US Congress. He calls on Congress to "mandate'' wind power and its subsidies.

I also have concerns about becoming too dependent on a single source. Let's go with his Texas plan . He plans on building massive wind farms and transmitting the electricity to urban grids. What happens on slow wind days ? Is there suddenly a collapse of the grid ? What backs it up ? If there is a backup then surely it is more reliable than the fickle weather patterns.

BABRAM

The technical aspect is not a problem. I saw a program not long ago that explained the wind energy devices have storing capacitors, I think good for days in advance. It's a very advanced windmill, unlike what was used on the American farms of yesteryear. My concern is that T. Boone's motives seem too convenient (which you appear to agree and confirm my suspicions). I suspect many Americans see his commercials and consider the same.

inthebox

I would love for solar to be cost effective for the homeowner to go to.