Posted on 06/25/2008 1:12:26 PM PDT by kingattax
In recent days I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lexington Project named for the town where Americans asserted their independence once before. And let it begin today with this commitment: In a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025.
This pledge is addressed to all concerned -- to those abroad whose power flows from an accident of geology, and to you, my fellow Americans, whose strength proceeds from unity of purpose. Together, we will break the power of OPEC over the United States. And never again will we leave our vital interests at the mercy of any foreign power.
Some will say this goal is unattainable within that relatively short span of years -- it's too hard and we need more time. Let me remind them that in the space of half that time -- about eight years -- this nation conceived and carried out a plan to take three Americans to the Moon and bring them safely home. In less than a third of that time, the gathered energies of my father's generation built the industrial might that overcame Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. That is the scale of our achievement when we set our minds to a task. That is what this country can do when we see a danger, and declare a purpose, and find the will to act.
As president, I will turn all the apparatus of government in the direction of energy independence for our country -- authorizing new production, building nuclear plants, perfecting clean coal, improving our electricity grid, and supporting all the new technologies that one day will put the age of fossil fuels behind us. Much will be asked of industry as well, as automakers and others adapt to this great turn toward new sources of power. And a great deal will depend on each one of us, as we learn to make smarter use of energy, and also to draw on the best ideas of both parties, and work together for the common good.
This Project is not a plan calibrated to please every interest group or to meet every objection. That is how we arrived to our present predicament. That is how energy policy in Washington became a long list of subjects avoided, options ruled out, and possibilities foreclosed. Nor can I promise you that the long-term success of this Project will bring instant relief.Ê In the mission of energy security, some tasks are the work of decades and some the work of years. And they will take all the will and resolve of which we are capable. But I can promise you this. Unless we begin this mission now, nothing will change at all, except for the worse. And when we succeed in the hard reform ahead, your children will live in a more prosperous country, in a more peaceful world.
Developing...
NcCain seems to be getting it. Good for him.
How about getting government out of the way so private industry can do it?
Wonder how cap and trade and vilifying the oil companies fit into this “plan”. /s/
Lots of nice verbiage.
However, unless includes Drilling Here, and Drilling Now, it just more pandering to the left by a man who for the last 7 years has been moving more and more left in his positions.
I am looking for a Leader not a panderer!
If he wants my vote, he’ll start being a leader.
This seems like borderline breaking news, if this is his first mission statement of this scope.
Energy policy can be a HUUUUUGE plus for McCain and republicans. The democrats have painted themselves into a corner with a bunch of malarky, and Obama is not backing down from it.
Didn’t Al Gore once say that the Internal Combustion Engine was a Crime Against Humanity?
I’m interested in the specifics of his plan for nuclear plants.
Is he planning to have the government build these plants? Will they be in competition with the privately owned electric utilities?
Or is he planning subsidies to the utilities to promote nuclear power?
All any president needs to do is open Yucca Mountain to handle the spent fuel until Congress can pass legislation getting intervenors out of the way of reprocessing. Then the utilities will be falling all over themselves to build new plants.
I guarantee you that when you see the details it’s going to look like a govt subsidy for evey conceivable green energy plan and will look a lot more like what is already going on except bigger and more expensive to the taxpayer. Call me a cynic if you like but McCain’s stand on those issues have always been along those lines except for his recent flip on drilling and that was political expediency.
...offshore drilling. drilling in ANWAR and emergency authorization to build new refineries on a timetable to bring them online to handle increased output from our new domestic drilling. (I wish)
Excellent news! Energy independence is only two thirds of a generation away.
Oh................................ the............................... excitement........................ I................................. can............................... hardly............................ contain........................... it................................
How about a crash program to get 150 nuclear power plants on line by 2015, 2018 at the latest? How about an executive order to start drilling off our shores withing six months? How about a rush program to exploit oil deposits on our soil?
There's no need to offer up vague plans that won't meet our needs for seventeen years. Get some backbone John. Do something that will really make a difference to this generation.
His plan for 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, is downright laughable. By 2030 will need 200 or more new reactors, not 45. This guy is proposing goals that if met, wouldn't meet today's needs.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
In the end, this is just going to be a giant taxpayer funded ‘go green’ plan.
How about Freepers finally grasp the fact a President cannot over turn Congressional Law with an Executive Order?
It means something to me. Specifically, its a pledge to use the power of the fed to further manipulate, and more likely exacerbate, the problem.
Juan Insanes handlers need to tell him to catch a clue and get the fed the hell out of the way.
My pledge if elected president is that if it generates energy then I work to green-light all unsubsidized private efforts.
Don’t get on him for his plan to build 45 reactors. That’s 45 more than the democrats will give us.
And 45 is a start. Keep in mind Roosevelt wanted the United States to produce 50,000 military airplanes during WW2. At the time, he was scoffed at as 50,000 was considered impossible. I think we built five times that many.
Say 45, put private industry into it, keep the enviro nazis at bay, and sure, we can get 45, we can get 450, there’s really no limit to what we can do IF government allows us.
It was my understanding that an Executive Order could be drafted to cover just about everything. Once drafted and activated, Congress would have to override it by a two-thirds majority. Is that incorrect?
My take on his 45 plants by 2030, is that he doesn’t really mean it. If he did mean it, he would have addressed a number that would have met our needs.
I know where you are coming from, but it’s my take that this guy is still playing smoke and mirrors. He’s been in the Congress of the United States since the early 1980s, and he hasn’t championed energy production once that I know of.
And when he does, he doesn’t even get the numbers right.
Thanks for your response. I appreciate it.
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