To meet that second goal, John McCain proposes a cap-and-trade system that limits the amount of carbon dioxide that can be released into the atmosphere -- in 2050, limits will be set at 60 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in 1990. Under the McCain version, the government would initially give most of the emissions permits directly to greenhouse gas polluters, which could then trade them freely, presumably leading to innovative measures to reduce emissions from the private sector and eliminating the need for most government regulation or subsidies. According to the campaign: "The profit motive will coordinate the efforts of venture capitalists, corporate planners, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists on the common motive of reducing emissions." Eventually, some permits would be auctioned and the proceeds used to mitigate the impact of higher energy prices on low-income people and to support some emerging technologies. McCain has offered a modest set of proposals for advancing alternative fuels and encouraging efficiency in transportation and for utilities:
Transportation sector: McCain offers moral support for biofuels such as ethanol, but neither federal investment to improve the technology nor subsidies to encourage the industry. He "calls on automakers to make a more rapid and complete switch" to so-called flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on either gasoline or ethanol (or any mixture of the two), but wouldn't require it. He would, however, make existing fuel economy standards more effective by stiffening fines levied against automakers for violating the rules. And, as he told the League of Conservation Voters, he supports increasing fuel economy standards "to a level that is practical and achievable for all new vehicles." (The full Q&A begins here.) To nurture the market for plug-in hybrids and electric cars, McCain would establish a $300 million prize for finding a breakthrough in battery technology that reduces current costs by 70 percent. To consumers, he would offer a $5,000 tax credit for purchasing a "zero carbon emission" car and smaller credits for buying other low-emission vehicles.
Utility sector: McCain would replace today's temporary tax credits that assist renewables generating electricity -- wind, solar, and hydro power -- with "an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently." He would spur the market for green buildings by requiring higher efficiency standards for federal offices -- the U.S. government is the world's largest single electricity consumer. And he would reduce regulation to foster investment in the national grid and encourage the deployment of SmartMeter technology.
In contrast to these limited measures, the campaign has also proposed a massive increase in government support for nuclear power and coal. McCain would subsidize building 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, and eventually 55 more. McCain would also devote $30 billion over 15 years to spur development in clean coal. McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin justified the inconsistency of opposing subsidies for nascent renewable power while supporting it for the incumbent nuclear and coal industries in an interview with the environmental website Grist. In the first case, "you are using the taxpayers' dollars for special interests, not for the national interests," Holtz-Eakin explained. But "if there's a genuine national interest in using nuclear power as an available, feasible, zero-emissions technology, I don't think he would argue that that's a special-interest thing. It's something the nation needs to do as a priority, and if that means a subsidy, then we need to make the agreement we're going to do that for those reasons. I think that's an appropriate role for government, in his view."
How he's voted: McCain early on accepted global warming as a legitimate concern, and in 2003 introduced a cap-and-trade bill in the Senate with Senator Joe Lieberman. (It failed.) "He was way ahead of everyone in his party," says David Sandretti of the League of Conservation Voters. More recently, he conditionally supported the Lieberman-Warner climate bill that the Senate briefly debated this spring -- McCain wanted to see more nuclear incentives in it.
Still, McCain is a newcomer to many of the positions outlined in his energy and climate platform. He opposed lifting the restrictions on off-shore drilling until June. More typically, McCain's been at best an indifferent legislator on renewable energy and conservation, according to the League of Conservation Voters. He's voted against significant incentives for and investment in renewable fuels, says Sandretti, and while he opposed the big tax breaks for the oil industry in 2005, he didn't support repealing them, either. (The measure failed in the Senate by one vote.) He's also opposed raising fuel economy standards. In all, McCain's lifetime score on environmental issues from the League is 24 percent.
