I currently live in the Western United States in the swing state of Nevada. The West is a region where energy and electricity are dominant issues. A region where people drive long distances across wind swept valleys and basins, escarpment and towering mountain ranges. A region where the most precious of natural resources are found. Much of world's gold, silver, and several other precious minerals are found in the West. Some Western States, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming produce significant fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal. Some Western States produce very little of these commodities and spend billions importing them from other states or even other countries. California of course imports more energy resources than any Western state due to its massive population.
The West is a region where the politics of fear are not nearly as effective. Fear of terrorism, gay marriage, and activist judges do not play here. Energy and water are the critical issues. In fact, renewable energy has been a bright spot in Western state economies. From wind power in the Rockies and Pacific Northwest to geothermal and solar in California and Nevada. Renewable energy has created thousands of new jobs and brought hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development to rural regions that had been falling apart at the seams. Renewable energy does not have to be imported and does not deplete. It is power from the winds of Columbia River Basin, the sun over the Mojave Desert and the hot rocks of the Great Basin.
As a Western Senator from Arizona, you would think that John McCain would notice this, and do everything in his power to support it...and you would be wrong...Very wrong!
John McCain, despite his bogus television ads, has done nothing to promote renewable energy, even though it is critical to the future of his constituents in Arizona. For one thing, he promotes a big oil agenda. Yet, Arizona only produced 43,000 barrels of oil in 2007. Meanwhile, in 2007 Arizona residents consumed about 1600 times as much oil (about 70 million barrels) just for motor fuel. In the past 12 months alone, John McCain missed 8 votes to extend needed production and investment tax credits for solar energy. In one of the votes he missed, he would have been the deciding vote on the matter. He had voted against the tax credits a number of times in the past.
So what is the consequence of his absence? Over 3,000 megawatts (MW) of legitimate concentrating solar power in the United States are now considering terminating their contracts if the tax credits fail to pass. One MW of concentrating solar power is enough for roughly 300 homes in an average year. One of the projects facing termination is a 280 MW power plant in his home state of Arizona.
Germany has well over 3,000 MW of photovoltaic solar panels installed in their country. Arizona has roughly 10 MW of capacity of photovoltaic solar panels and only 1 MW of concentrating solar power. Arizona has among the most solar radiation anywhere on earth, and has significant population and infrastructure to distribute it to the market. Germany has marginal solar radiation and is only 1.2 times the size of Arizona. There is something wrong here, and it starts in Washington DC with people like John McCain.
Maybe I am being too hasty. After all, John McCain also has also voted against or failed to vote for wind and geothermal power, included in those 8 votes he missed on solar tax credits. Not only has he failed to support tax credits for these technologies, he has consistently voted against funding for government R&D for these technologies.
One of the worst charges that John McCain has leveled against Barack Obama is that he voted for billions of tax cuts for Big Oil in 2005. What McCain is referring to is the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which he voted against and Obama voted for. This legislation, while imperfect, also provided the most significant funding in years for renewable energy tax credits and renewable energy research. Since it was passed in August 2005, over 10,000 MW of wind power and approximately 500 MW of solar and geothermal power have come online. This is an unprecedented growth in renewable energy capacity in the U.S. power market. Since the legislation was passed, nearly three times as much new renewable generation capacity has been installed as new coal-fired generation capacity. In addition, nearly 3000 MW of renewable energy generation capacity have come online in the Western U.S. Is this really a "big oil" bill or is it a bill that finally gave a level playing field to renewable energy? John McCain, as usual, has been trying to mislead us to cover up his bad vote.
Next week, the Senate is expected to vote again on legislation that will extend the production tax credits for solar, wind, and geothermal. Where will John McCain be? He'll probably on the campaign trail touting his commitment to renewable energy. In the meanwhile, he will avoid voting for legislation that will pay for itself through the creation of jobs, foreign investment, investment in leasing and development, and offset of fossil fuel imports. McCain has never supported renewable energy and never will. He doesn't understand that these technologies still need some incentives to be economical. Oil, natural gas and nuclear power already have incentives. Why should fossil fuels have an advantage over renewable energy?
John McCain is right when he says that he doesn't understand the economy. He has failed to support the one bright spot in the economy. No industry in the U.S. has boomed like renewable energy in the past three years. It has boomed because of the legislation supported by Barack Obama and opposed by John McCain. John McCain doesn't even understand the value of solar energy in Arizona! If that is any sign of his views on the future of energy in America, you can count us out.
John Warner office Phone: 202-224-2023
I am calling the Republican Senator in my state tomorrow.