More headlines: Al Gore on Energy & Oil

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Use oil reserves so heat doesn’t become a luxury

Gore proposed that the government tap into the nation’s 570-million-barrel strategic oil reserve in an effort to drive down the costs of gasoline and home heating oil. “I’m not satisfied when the oil to heat your home becomes more of a luxury than an affordable necessity.” Gore also called on Congress to create a permanent home heating oil reserve for the Northeast and for the appropriation of $400 million in emergency funds to help low-income families cope with extreme price spikes. Source: CNN.com coverage Sep 21, 2000

Gore calls for elimination of combustion engine

Standing in the heart of car country, Gore wholeheartedly embraced one of his most controversial environmental stands and pushed it one step further today, asserting the internal combustion engine could be eliminated before 2017. In his 1992 book “Earth in the Balance,” Gore described the internal combustion engine, used on most cars and trucks, as an outdated technology that is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide production and thus poses a “mortal threat” to society. Gore and other environmentalists argue that the release of carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere contributes to global warming. In announcing a new government-corporate partnership aimed at developing more fuel-efficient trucks, Gore pitched his general belief that environmental protection can enhance the economy. “If we make the right investments, if we make the responsible choices, then we do not have to choose between the economy and the environment,” he said. Source: Ceci Connolly & Ben White, Washington Post on 2000 election Apr 22, 2000

Pushed for BTU tax on coal & gas, in 1993

Although Gore had toned down his environmental rhetoric during the 1992 campaign, he saw the 1993 economic package as an opportunity to push for the green movement’s tax of choice: a broad-based levy based on the use of energy as measured in BTUs (British thermal units). A BTU tax would fall most heavily on coal and other fossil fuels, encouraging industry to use less polluting sources like natural gas. Gore believed that adoption of a BTU tax, which would raise an estimated $72 billion over five years, could kindle support for similar measures in Europe and Japan, accelerating global environmental renewal. [After passing in the House and stalling in the Senate, the BTU tax was] replaced by a more politically palatable gasoline tax.

The setback, said an environmental lobbyist, seemed to yank Gore back into his campaign-season zone of caution on environmental issues, as if he had been caught straying too far ahead-and to the left-of what the political system would bear.

Source: Inventing Al Gore, p.270-1 Mar 3, 2000

Pushed emissions trading plan at Kyoto greenhouse summit

In Gore’s view, there could be no breakthroughs, especially on global warming, until the public saw a clear & present danger. “The people haven’t given us permission to lead on this issue,” he said.

Nevertheless, at the Kyoto summit, the administration proposed a binding commitment to return CO2 emissions to 1990 levels between 2008 & 2012. After that, a series of market mechanisms would be employed to drive emissions below the 1990 baseline by 2017. They included an international trading system in which pollution permits could be bought and sold, giving companies incentive to cut emissions and sell their rights to another firm for a profit.

In his speech to the Kyoto delegates, Gore said that the real challenge was to change the human behaviors that were causing climate change. Gore’s whirlwind visit changed the dynamics of the conference. All sides gave ground. The US promised to cut emissions 7% below the 1990 levels between 2008 & 2012; the Europeans committed to 8% and Japan to 6%.

Source: Inventing Al Gore, p.334-6 Mar 3, 2000

Pushed to reduce global warming

In Congress, Al Gore became a recognized expert and leader on combating global warming. Gore has: -- Spurred negotiations toward an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an environmentally strong and economically sound way; -- Helped win significant increases for research in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies; -- Forged new partnerships with industry to develop and promote energy-savingcars, homes, and appliances. Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/environ.html 5/15/99 May 15, 1999

Supports Kyoto protocol’s US greenhouse gas emission cuts

Gore flew to the 1997 Kyoto climate-change treaty negotiations, which were about to collapse. He announced a shift in the American position and personally lobbied several foreign delegations. The result was a breakthrough, and a treaty that calls for developed countries to cut their emissions of harmful greenhouse gases, including the carbon dioxide that comes from burning coal and gasoline. Source: Time Magazine, p. 65-67 Apr 26, 1999

Global warming is a strategic threat

Global warming is a strategic threat. The concentration of carbon dioxide and other heat-absorbing molecules has increased by almost 25 percent since World War II, posing a worldwide threat to the earth’s ability to regulate the amount of heat from the sun retained in the atmosphere. This increase in heat seriously threatens the global climate equilibrium that determines the patterns of winds, rainfall, surface temperatures, ocean currents, and sea level. Source: Earth in the Balance, page 29 Jul 2, 1993

Global Marshall Plan must include the First and Third worlds

The model of the Marshall Plan can be of great help. for example, a Global Marshall Plan must focus on strategic goals and emphasize actions and programs that are likely to remove the bottlenecks presently inhibiting the healthy functioning of the global economy. The new global economy must be an inclusive system that does not leave entire regions behind. The new plan will require the wealthy nations to allocate money for transferring environmentally helpful technologies to the Third World and to help impoverished nations achieve a stable population and a new pattern of sustainable economic progress. To work, however, any such effort will also require wealthy nations to make a transition themselves that will be in some ways more wrenching than that of the Third World. Source: Earth in the Balance, page 297-301 Jul 2, 1993

The effects of global warming on polar ice are significant

Indeed, global warming is expected to push temperatures up much more rapidly in the polar regions than in the rest of the world. As the polar air warms, the ice here will thin; and since the polar cap plays such a crucial role in the world’s weather system, the consequences of a thinning cap would be disastrous. Source: Earth in the Balance, page 23 Jul 2, 1993

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