Download Six Questions for Senator John McCain

Six Qu estions for Senator John McCain
In the past, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has applauded Senator John McCain for his leadership on
climate change, but his current proposals fall well short of addressing the challenge and his lifetime 24%
environmental voting score shows a wavering commitment to America’s environment. As Senator McCain prepares to
spend a week touting his record on global warming and discussing his plans for energy and the environment, there are
six pressing questions that remain unanswered.
Question 1: How do you reconcile your claim to care about the environment when you
have voted to protect it less than one quarter of the time on key votes?
Senator McCain has earned a 24% lifetime score on the LCV Environmental Scorecard, the nationally
accepted yardstick for determining a candidate’s position on the environment. By contrast, Senators Obama
and Clinton have earned 86% and 87% lifetime scores.
John McCain believes that we are vested with a sacred duty to be proper stewards of the resources upon
which the quality of American life depends.
www.johnmccain.com
Question 2: As President, will you follow President Bush’s lead, giving billions of
taxpayers’ dollars to Big Oil, or will you cut taxpayer subsidies to oil companies and
invest in clean, renewable energy?
Senator McCain often speaks out against government handouts and the influence of special interests, yet he
has accepted more than half a million dollars from Big Oil companies and his campaign chairman is a lobbyist
for Saudi Arabia. When it came time to vote to repeal billions in tax breaks for those massive corporations and
to invest that money in clean, new energy sources, McCain was the only Senator to miss the cloture vote,
which failed by one vote – his. Because of that missed vote, vital renewable energy tax credits are in danger
of expiring.
“Congress must provide a substantial extension of the energy efficiency and renewable energy
production tax credits to ensure that our country invests in a sustainable energy policy.”
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) – January 28, 2008
“What I’m afraid of is that these companies aren’t serious about expanding the availability and use of
alternative fuels.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) - May 24, 2007
Question 3: As President, will you break from the Bush Administration’s policy of
ignoring science and embracing outdated statistics, and instead demand at least a 15-20
% reduction in global warming pollution by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050, as
Nobel Prize winning scientists have called for?
In his stump speech Senator McCain often quotes Tony Blair on global warming: “Suppose we're wrong, and
there's no such thing as greenhouse-gas emissions, and we adopt green technologies. All we've done is give
our kids a better planet. But suppose we're right, and do nothing? Then what kind of a legacy are we handing
on to future generations?”
The world’s best scientists and the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tell us
that we must reduce global warming pollution by 80% by the year 2050 to prevent catastrophe.
"Using market-based incentives, we will reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020.
That's a 25 percent reduction. And by 2050, we will reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels.
We simply must do everything in our power to slow down global warming before it's too late."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) – September 27, 2006
Question 4: As President, will you help promote renewable energy, or will you continue
to oppose a national Renewable Electricity Standard?
Central to reducing global warming pollution is reducing the impact of electric generation, and every feasible
plan requires a national Renewable Electricity Standard. On May 1, Ohio became the 26th state to stop waiting
for federal action and pass Renewable Electricity Standards (RES) into law. Senators Obama and Clinton both
support a 25% by 2025 federal RES. Senator McCain missed the key RES vote of 2007, and voted against
even a 10% by 2020 RES in 2005.
RES “will boost the production of renewable energy, provide jobs in new industries, and save an
estimated 13 to 18 billion dollars on electricity and natural gas bills by 2030.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) - April 22, 2008
Question 5: As President, will you help America break its addiction to the fossil fuels of
the past and actively support fuel efficiency standards of 40 mpg by 2020?
Senator McCain recently proposed a gas tax holiday in order to save the average consumer $30 this year. In
2003 and 2005, he voted against fuel efficiency standards that would save the average family $1424 per year.
In 2007, he skipped the vote. Every other Senator running for President voted in favor.
A 40-mpg CAFE standard would save an average 3.1 million barrels of oil per day by 2020 – as much oil as
the U.S. currently imports from the Persian Gulf and could extract from the Arctic Refuge and the California
outer continental shelf combined. That would save this country $136 billion per year.
“Increased CAFE standards are justified now given the national security gains we would reap from
significantly reducing oil consumption.”
Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) - December 18, 2007
Question 6: Will you fulfill your “patriotic responsibility” to protect America’s
drinking water and publicly support the Clean Water Restoration Act?
McCain’s website states: “Ensuring … safe and healthy water… is a patriotic responsibility.” In the Senate,
he has cast 10 votes against clean water; two votes for it, once in 1987 and once in 2005.
On Monday, May 5, McCain praised the skills of Justices Roberts and Alito, but those same justices worked to
dramatically weaken the Clean Water Act, which McCain calls “one of our most successful environmental
laws.” In response to the Supreme Court’s action, members of both houses began to craft the Clean Water
Restoration Act to maintain current levels of protection for America’s drinking water.
Senator McCain’s longtime ally, Senator Lieberman, cosponsored the bill in the Senate, but no Republicans
have signed on to the bill. McCain, in a unique position to rally Republican support, has been silent.