Barack Obama
Energy Environment and Public Lands
Regulate CAFOs: Obama's Environmental Protection Agency will strictly regulate pollution from large CAFOs, with fines for those that violate tough standards. Obama also supports meaningful local control.
Limit EQIP Funding for CAFOs: Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that we should help farmers find the resources to comply with environmental requirements. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides important financial support to farmers seeking to improve the environmental quality of their operations. Unfortunately, the 2002 Farm Bill lifted the cap on the size of livestock operations that can receive EQIP funding, enabling large livestock operations to receive EQIP payments and subsidizing big CAFOs by as much as $450,000. Barack Obama and Joe Biden supports reinstating a strict cap on the size of the livestock operations that can receive EQIP funding so that the largest polluters have to pay for their own environmental clean up.
Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump. Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Energy Speculation: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will close energy industry market loopholes and increase transparency to prevent traders from unfairly lining their pockets, while driving up oil prices at the expense of the American people.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve: With oil prices doubling in the past year, Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we have an economic emergency that requires a limited, responsible swap of light oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for heavy crude oil to help bring down prices at the pump.
Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. The Obama-Biden cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned, and proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future, habitat protections, and rebates and other transition relief for families.
Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change. Obama and Biden will re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) -- the main international forum dedicated to addressing the climate problem. They will also create a Global Energy Forum of the world’s largest emitters to focus exclusively on global energy and environmental issues
Partner with Landowners to Conserve Private Lands: Obama and Biden will increase incentives for farmers and private landowners to conduct sustainable agriculture and protect wetlands, grasslands, and forests. Obama and Biden also supports increased funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports land acquisition and maintenance of parks. They will advance legislation that works with landowners and follows in the tradition of the Wilderness Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act to focus federal attention and increased resources for this key environmental issue. They will also increase funding for the Conservation Security Program and the Conservation Reserve Program and will create additional incentives for private landowners to protect and restore wetlands, grasslands, forests, and other wildlife habitat.
Expand USDA projects that focus on energy efficiency and conservation. Farmers realize that they can help their bottom line and the environment by using more wind and solar power production systems and sharing energy with other users. They are using new irrigation practices to conserve energy and water. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will encourage the use of methane digesters that are being used to produce power from animal waste. “No till” and other agricultural practices are reducing energy input and keeping the health of our soil sustainable.
For more information, please visit: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy
This information is not comprehensive, and should not be considered an endorsement of either campaign. For the most current and complete information about the campaigns, please visit either www.johnmccain.com or www.barackobama.com.