Democratic Party on Energy & Oil

	Democratic Party on Energy & Oil Party Platform

Support Paris Climate Agreement

ENVIRONMENT/CLIMATE CHANGE:

Democrats: Support Paris Climate Agreement. House voted to require U.S. to stay in the Paris Agreement beyond 2020 and fulfill its obligations. Oppose offshore drilling.

Republicans: Support Alaska oil and gas drilling. Repeal stream pollution limits on coal mining companies. Repealed rule that made mines monitor water quality in nearby streams and restore them once mining is complete, calling it overly costly regulation.

Source: CampusElect on 2020 Major Party positions , Aug 30, 2020

Tax carbon, methane, and other greenhouse gases

[After the 2016 primaries], we were victorious in including amendments in the platform that made it the policy of the Democratic Party to fight for:

Levying a tax on carbon, methane, and other greenhouse gas emissions to aggressively combat climate change;
Making massive investments in wind, solar, and other renewable energy.

All of these progressive policies were at the heart of our campaign, and I was very proud of the accomplishment of our platform-writing team. Source: Where We Go From Here, by B. Sanders, p.16-7, on 2016 DNC , Jul 9, 2016

Preserve ANWR but explore for oil responsibly elsewhere

Building a clean energy future means that new exploration and production needs to be approached safely and responsibly. Democrats are committed to balancing environmental protection with development, and that means preserving sensitive public lands from exploration, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Pacific West Coast, Gulf of Maine, and other irreplaceable national landscapes.

We are saving consumers money on their energy bills--both at home and at the pump--but Republican energy policy is full of empty rhetoric and bad ideas that would make their Big Oil donors even richer at the expense of the middle class. Republicans would keep giving billions of taxpayer dollars a year to profitable oil companies and increase costs on consumers. Democrats will fight to cut tax subsidies for Big Oil while promoting job growth in the clean energy sector, so we can cut the deficit and increase jobs and growth in America.

Source: 2012 Democratic Party Platform , Sep 4, 2012

Transfer billions in oil & gas subsidies to alternative R&D

We will create a cleaner, greener and stronger America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop energy alternatives, and investing in energy independent technology.

Energy independence puts America in the driver’s seat to pursue affordable and efficient energy solutions that will benefit all Americans, improve America’s security, reduce the burden on American families, and help clean our environment.

American families deserve an energy policy that creates a cleaner and stronger America that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and also creates new jobs for American workers. By clearing the pathways to innovation, investing i our workers and infrastructure, and providing American consumers with broader, more responsible choices, the Democratic plan will provide the tools to help move America forward, toward real energy security for the 21st century.

Source: 2006 Democratic Party Congressional Promise , Nov 1, 2006

We cannot drill our way to energy independence

A balanced energy policy must create real incentives for energy conservation in our homes, our offices, our factories, and our infrastructure, saving money and improving security even as it creates good jobs and rebuilds our communities. Source: The Democratic Platform for America, p.15 , Jul 10, 2004

Energy independence to avoid dealing with repressive regimes

Today, the American economy depends on oil controlled by some of the world’s most repressive regimes. This leaves our economy dangerously vulnerable to nations that do not share our interests. America too often is silent about the practices of some governments because we depend on oil they control. John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democratic Party believe a strong America must no longer rely on the cooperation of regimes that do not share our values. We believe a strong America must move toward energy independence. In the Bush Administration, energy independence doesn’t get a thought. Their energy policy is simple: government by big oil, of big oil, and for big oil. This Administration let oil industry lobbyists and executives write our nation’s energy policy in secret. They even went to the Supreme Court to stop the public from learning what they were doing. This President’s approach to energy policy leaves America shackled to foreign oil, dependent, vulnerable, and exposed. Source: The Democratic Platform for America, p.14 , Jul 10, 2004

Develop renewable energy and efficient vehicles

Harnessing American ingenuity to create renewable energy. Our plan begins with commonsense investments to harness the natural world around us-the sun, wind, water, geothermal and biomass sources, and a rich array of crops-to create a new generation of affordable energy for the 21st century. We support tax credits for private sector investment in clean, renewable sources of energy, and we will make ethanol credits work better for farmers. Creating the energy-efficient vehicles of tomorrow. We support improving fuel standards, and because of the challenges this poses, we will offer needed incentives for consumers to buy efficient vehicles, and for manufacturers to build them. We are also committed to developing hydrogen as a clean, reliable domestic source of energy. Our economy cannot convert to hydrogen overnight, so we will fund research to overcome the obstacles to hydrogen fuel and continue our other efforts to achieve energy independence. Source: The Democratic Platform for America, p.14-15 , Jul 10, 2004

Invest in technology & transportation friendly to earth

We must give incentives to invest in fuel-efficient cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles; energy-efficient homes. We need to clean up power plants. We should invest in roads, bridges, light rail systems, cleaner buses, the aviation system, our national passenger railroad, Amtrak, and trains that would give Americans choices-freeing them from traffic, smog-choked cities, and being held hostage to foreign oil. With the right investments, environmentally-friendly technologies can create new jobs. Source: 2000 Democratic National Platform as adopted by the DNC , Aug 15, 2000

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