Related Articles: McCain Ad a Full Tank of Nonsense
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PROJECT GREEN
The Lure of Black Gold
8/1/2008 12:00:00 AMOffshore oil drilling is at the center of an intensifying national debate over how the government should address the current energy crisis, and it's lately become a front-burner issue on the presidential campaign trail. Presumptive nominees Barack Obama and John McCain have been divided on the issue—Obama was against more drilling, McCain has lately come out in favor of it—but just today, Obama qualified his position, telling a Florida newspaper he'd be open to allowing limited offshore drilling if that's what it takes to pass a more comprehensive energy plan, including support for alternative energy and more fuel-efficient cars. Until recently, coastal states had taken a "not in my backyard" approach to offshore drilling. But that's beginning to change, now that gas prices are hovering at or above $4 per gallon. In Florida, 60 percent of voters now support drilling off their coasts. Perhaps more surprising, a majority in eco-conscious California is also willing to tap waters off the state's shorelines. Ever since the devastating Unocal oil spill in the waters off Santa Barbara in 1969, there was a relatively unified opposition to new drilling in the state. But a just-released survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, shows a slim but surprising majority (51 percent) of Californians now favoring more offshore drilling, while 45 percent now oppose it.
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PROJECT GREEN
’69 Flashback
7/16/2008 12:00:00 AMThe notion of new offshore drilling isn't going down well in Santa Barbara, Calif., the idyllic seaside community 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles that has often been called the birthplace of the modern environmental movement. Longtime residents still talk about the oil rig spill in January 1969 that left 35 miles of coastline covered with black goo and caused severe environmental damage. The disastrous spill, which gained worldwide attention, spurred the creation less than a year later of the Environmental Protection Agency by the Nixon administration and passage of the Clean Air Act.
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FACTCHECK.ORG
A False Accusation About Energy
7/9/2008 12:00:00 AMAnd while the ad correctly says that Obama is against lifting the gas tax and against more production "here at home" (read: lifting the federal ban on more offshore oil drilling), neither of those steps is likely to be a "solution" for the problems at hand.
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FACTCHECK.ORG
McCain's Power Outage
6/20/2008 12:00:00 AMHe has soft-pedaled the "cap" portion of his cap-and-trade proposal for greenhouse gases, even denying that it would be a mandate. The cap is a mandatory limit, however, and McCain even says so on his Web site.
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FACTCHECK.ORG
The Budget According to McCain: Part II
5/14/2008 12:00:00 AMMcCain says that eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax will save "more than 25 million middle-class families more than $2,000 every year." But McCain's "middle class" includes families making up to $200,000 per year, and the $2,000 figure is an average. Those earning more money will see the lion's share of the savings. McCain also leaves out the fact that the proposal could cost as much as $1.6 trillion over 10 years.
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DRIVING FORCES
Should You Pay $6 Per Gallon?
4/25/2008 12:00:00 AMWith gas prices constantly hitting new records, John McCain struck a populist chord last week with his proposal for a gas tax holiday. After all, with pump prices for regular now averaging $3.57 a gallon, who wouldn't like to lop off the 18.4-cent federal tax on each gallon you pump into your car this summer? It seemed like such a good idea Hillary Clinton jumped on the gas tax holiday bandwagon too. Only Barack Obama said he didn't like the idea because it takes funds from federal roadwork. However, Obama did vote for a similar gas tax holiday as an Illinois state senator in 2000.
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