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Candidates differ on energy issues McCain, Obama both vow to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but strategies they propose to achieve goal show marked contrast Stefan Milkowski For Petroleum News
While economic issues have dominated the presidential campaign in recent weeks, the high cost of energy and the country’s reliance on foreign oil also emerged as a subject of debate.
Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., both support efforts to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas, though they both oppose opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
But the two men vying to become the nation’s next commander-in-chief disagree on many other energy issues, including opening offshore areas to drilling.
McCain had long opposed removing a ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, but he changed his stance in June and now argues that easing restrictions to boost domestic production is warranted in light of the U.S. dependence on foreign oil.“There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities,” McCain wrote on his campaign Web site.
Obama also has expressed support for increasing domestic oil production, but does not support an expansion of offshore drilling by itself. He says he would support expanded offshore drilling if it is done in an environmentally sound way and is part of a comprehensive energy plan that includes support for renewable energy sources, according to Nathan Osburn, Alaska communications director for Obama’s campaign.
“He doesn’t want to be so rigid that he can’t get something done,” Osburn said.
President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July, and Congress recently allowed a decades-old moratorium on drilling in areas off the coast of the United States to expire.
But regulations related to a drilling program have yet to be drafted, and final decisions will not be made until after Bush leaves office.
ANWR has not received much attention in the campaign. While both candidates oppose opening the refuge’s coastal plain to oil development, Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, strongly supports opening ANWR and has said she will try to bring McCain around.
“Use it or lose it” Obama has proposed a handful of initiatives to boost domestic production from existing resources.
One involves a “use it or lose it” approach to existing leases not under production. Under Obama’s plan, oil companies would be required to “diligently develop these leases or turn them over so that another company can develop them.”
Osburn wrote in an e-mail that the proposal would work by barring oil companies from obtaining new leases until they develop leases they already hold.
Lax legal requirements have allowed oil companies to “stockpile leases in a non-producing status, while leaving millions of acres of leased land untouched,” Osburn wrote.
Other initiatives involve addressing permitting delays for drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and promoting the use of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.
Obama also has voiced support for construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline, a move that won him praise from Palin in early August.
The McCain campaign did not provide details of McCain’s energy plan.
Windfall profits tax The two candidates also disagree on the question of whether to increase taxes on oil companies in times of high oil prices.
Obama also proposes a “windfall profits” tax on oil companies sufficient to give every individual in the U.S. a $500 stimulus check, or every married couple $1,000.
McCain opposes the idea, writing on his campaign Web site that a windfall profits tax “will ultimately result in increasing our dependence on foreign oil and hinder investment in domestic exploration.”
Follow the money Donations to McCain’s campaign from oil company employees shot up after McCain reversed his position on offshore drilling in June, the Washington Post reported. McCain brought in $1.1 million in June from industry employees (companies themselves are barred from donating to political campaigns), compared with just $208,000 the month before. Three quarters of the June donations came after McCain changed his position on offshore drilling.
Both candidates have received campaign contributions from oil company employees, but McCain has received significantly more than Obama, according to Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
At a rally in Ohio in mid-September, Palin said she would “help lead the mission of energy security” should she and McCain win in November, according to a report published by Reuters.
The McCain campaign did not respond to requests for clarification.
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