Kerry maps out energy plan to fight terrorism
Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:51 PM ET
By Jason Szep
BOSTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry, a possible presidential candidate in 2008, said on Monday the United States must end its reliance on Middle Eastern oil to defeat terrorism, and he proposed hard targets for cutting U.S. oil consumption.
"Our reliance on oil not only props up decaying and dictatorial regimes, but those that tolerate and sustain terrorist groups," he told about 250 cheering supporters in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.
The Massachusetts senator, who challenged President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, said U.S. military success must be backed with policies aimed at energy independence to win the war on terrorism -- such as raising the number of cars powered by renewable fuels.
Kerry, who has not ruled out another White House run in 2008, proposed reducing U.S. oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels a day by 2015 -- the equivalent to the entire volume of U.S. imports of Middle Eastern oil.
He said the United States should build significantly more "flex fuel vehicles" that can run on something other than gasoline, such as "E85" -- a fuel blend consisting of 85 percent ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, and 15 percent gasoline.
Automakers are building E85-enabled cars but only six million vehicles, or 10 percent of all those on the road, can run on it.
"We must require, not just recommend, that an increasing percentage of new cars can run on E85 and that by 2020 all new cars will have the capacity to run on E85," Kerry said.
With many consumers angry over high gasoline prices less than six months before congressional elections, both parties have taken steps to underline differences on energy policy.
Republicans have accused Democrats of opposing efforts to increase domestic fuel supplies; Democrats have painted Republicans as out of touch on climate change and beholden to fossil fuels and Middle East oil.
Kerry said 10 percent of major oil filling stations should be required by law to offer at least one ethanol pump by 2010, and called for a series of tax credits to ensure that 20 percent of all passenger cars and trucks are hybrids by 2020.
"We can put ethanol pumps in every single gas station in America for what we spend in Iraq in just one week," he said.
Kerry called for an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reverse greenhouse emissions growth from 2010 before moving to more rapid reductions aimed at cutting emissions by 2050 at 65 percent below what they were in 2000.
He plans to propose an amendment in the Senate to an energy spending bill that would require more than 1,800 E85 pumps across the country in the next year, he said.
Bush has called for more ethanol use to reduce foreign oil imports but fewer than 1,000 of the nation's 170,000 filling stations sell E85.
Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:51 PM ET
By Jason Szep
BOSTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry, a possible presidential candidate in 2008, said on Monday the United States must end its reliance on Middle Eastern oil to defeat terrorism, and he proposed hard targets for cutting U.S. oil consumption.
"Our reliance on oil not only props up decaying and dictatorial regimes, but those that tolerate and sustain terrorist groups," he told about 250 cheering supporters in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.
The Massachusetts senator, who challenged President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, said U.S. military success must be backed with policies aimed at energy independence to win the war on terrorism -- such as raising the number of cars powered by renewable fuels.
Kerry, who has not ruled out another White House run in 2008, proposed reducing U.S. oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels a day by 2015 -- the equivalent to the entire volume of U.S. imports of Middle Eastern oil.
He said the United States should build significantly more "flex fuel vehicles" that can run on something other than gasoline, such as "E85" -- a fuel blend consisting of 85 percent ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, and 15 percent gasoline.
Automakers are building E85-enabled cars but only six million vehicles, or 10 percent of all those on the road, can run on it.
"We must require, not just recommend, that an increasing percentage of new cars can run on E85 and that by 2020 all new cars will have the capacity to run on E85," Kerry said.
With many consumers angry over high gasoline prices less than six months before congressional elections, both parties have taken steps to underline differences on energy policy.
Republicans have accused Democrats of opposing efforts to increase domestic fuel supplies; Democrats have painted Republicans as out of touch on climate change and beholden to fossil fuels and Middle East oil.
Kerry said 10 percent of major oil filling stations should be required by law to offer at least one ethanol pump by 2010, and called for a series of tax credits to ensure that 20 percent of all passenger cars and trucks are hybrids by 2020.
"We can put ethanol pumps in every single gas station in America for what we spend in Iraq in just one week," he said.
Kerry called for an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reverse greenhouse emissions growth from 2010 before moving to more rapid reductions aimed at cutting emissions by 2050 at 65 percent below what they were in 2000.
He plans to propose an amendment in the Senate to an energy spending bill that would require more than 1,800 E85 pumps across the country in the next year, he said.
Bush has called for more ethanol use to reduce foreign oil imports but fewer than 1,000 of the nation's 170,000 filling stations sell E85.
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