2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate: on Energy & Oil
Duncan Hunter:
Give incentives in R&D to find new energy sources
I’d say instead of mandates, incentives. The problem with mandating only biofuels is that you use a lot of energy to create ethanol, and there’s other biofuels out there--biodiesel, etc. By giving incentives in R&D and bringing government laboratories
together with business & educational institutions, the US can become the center with a new industry of energy innovation. We should take the alternative energy sources and give incentives to private enterprise to get involved to deliver a great product.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
John McCain:
Climate change is real and must be addressed
Suppose that climate change is not real, and we do adopt green technologies, which our economy and technology are capable of. Then all we’ve done is given our kids a cleaner world. But suppose that climate change is real and we’ve done nothing. What kind
of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation? It’s real. We’ve got to address it with technology, with cap-and- trade, with capitalist and free enterprise motivation. We can pass on to our children and grandchildren a cleaner, better world.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
John McCain:
FactCheck: Oil independence will take 25 years, not 5 years
McCain announced a lofty, and, according to experts on the subject, improbable goal of ending foreign oil imports in five years, saying: “We have got to achieve energy independence, oil independence in this nation. I will make it a Manhattan Project, and
we will in five years become oil independent.”We can’t predict the future, so perhaps McCain can make this happen. But experts have serious doubts. Says one expert, “You can’t institute technological change that quickly. It takes 15 years now to turn
over the car fleet,“ citing a report commissioned by the secretary of energy that found the US could realistically reduce its reliance on oil imports by a third by 2030.
Another study, partly funded by the Pentagon and published in
2004, said it would take until 2040 for the nation to be free of all oil imports, by primarily using new technologies and competition.
About 66% of the oil used in the US in 2006 came from foreign imports, which amounted to 13.7 million barrels a day.
Source: FactCheck on 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate
Dec 12, 2007
Mike Huckabee:
Biofuel mandates are not necessary
I am willing for us to make the decisions which will not necessarily create the mandates. One of the biggest energy users in the whole country is the US government. If the government commits to being the primary user of alternative forms of energy,
we have a market built in. Therefore, the big argument against having alternative energy is there’s no market for it. Let the government be a marketplace and we’ll create the kind of demand that lowers the price rather than raises the price.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
Mitt Romney:
Invest in new technologies to get us off of foreign oil
Confronting climate change is going to help our economy because we’re going to invest in new technologies to get ourselves off of foreign oil, and as we get ourselves off of foreign oil, we also dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions.
That’s good for the environment; it’s also good for our economy. Because $300 to $400 billion worth of oil a year from other people who use it against us, that’s bad for our economy, it’s also bad for the environment. We can do these things in a way that
help both the environment and the economy and national security. Is global warming an issue for the world? Absolutely. Is it something we can deal with by becoming energy independent and energy secure? We sure can. At the same time, we call it global
warming, not America warming. So let’s not put a burden on us alone and have the rest of the world skate by without having to participate in this effort. It’s a global effort, but our independence is something we can do unilaterally.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
Tom Tancredo:
Give incentives in R&D to find new energy sources
I don’t believe in mandates. I don’t believe that biofuel usage mandates should be increased. I believe that the market is the best determinant of exactly how these problems should be addressed. I don’t mind and I would not be opposed to any investment
in research and development, but the idea that the government will make a decision about what is the right amount of mandate to impose on the rest of the country. It never works out right. I trust the market more than I do the government.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
Page last updated: Nov 30, 2018