Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton: on Energy & Oil

Hillary Clinton: Extensive funding into alternative energy

The next day there was a plenary session on global warming. The marquee attraction was Al Gore. Hillary and Gore had vied for Bill’s attention during his presidency, and that rivalry had only intensified after the Clintons left the White House. Bill privately told confidants that he believed that if Hillary emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Gore would enter as a left-of-Hillary alternative.

One month later, Hillary unveiled a comprehensive clean-energy plan, tailed along the lines she had mentioned at the conference. She suffered the same fat as Gore: Nobody paid attention.

Hillary Clinton: Energy Independence 2020: $50B for Strategic Energy Fund

[In a speech introducing the plan,] after praising solar power and wind technology, Hillary turned her attention to her villains--the oil companies--and discussed the legislation she hoped to pass that would force them to change their ways. Unless they diversified away from fossil fuels and into preferred, renewable technologies, her bill would require that they be assessed heavy windfall-profits taxes. This new revenue source, estimated at $50 billion, would finance a government energy fund that invested in innovative energy research.

Hillary introduced her promised legislation to create a federal “Strategic Energy Fund” financed by oil company taxes. But her energy bill, while music to the ears of the Left, overreached her colleagues. Hillary could not find another senator to cosponsor her bill.