McCain Turning Energy Policies on and Off

On a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate John McCain discussed his energy policies. They are more forward-thinking than those of many in his party, but some have changed so much over the years that it’s hard to know what, as president, McCain would do.

Until recently, McCain opposed offshore drilling for oil, but once high gasoline prices became a major concern, he reversed course. The candidate now believes that the decision to allow drilling should be left to the states, a position that makes little sense since pollution and wildlife don’t respect state borders. He has also voted both ways on restrictions on drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

Though he repeatedly voting against increased federal funding for emergency heating assistance for low-income households, now that heating oil is closing in on $5 per gallon, he says that he favors an increase.

A summer holiday suspension of the federal tax on gasoline is also an idea that the McCain of old would have spoofed. But once in full campaign mode McCain pandered to voters by arguing in favor of the gas tax holiday. The idea, which conservative Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute called “absolutely stupid,” would have helped keep demand for gasoline, and the profits of oil- exporting nations high and driven revenue to repair crumbling roads and bridges down.

Though a famous opponent of pork and subsidies, McCain’s record when it comes to energy is mixed. He has voted against subsidies for solar, wind and other alternative energy sources but in favor of subsidies for “clean coal” technology. He has railed against oil industry subsidies yet supported barring the Interior Department from collecting more money for the oil extracted from public lands. He also favors granting additional leases offshore to oil companies before they’ve explored the leases they already own.

Some of his energy policies, his support for an increase in vehicle fuel efficiency standards and his call expanded use of nuclear power, for example, have been constants. On his swing through New Hampshire, McCain reiterated his support for building 45 new nuclear power plants to address the energy crisis and combat global warming. He is open, he said, if the facts justify it, to finishing the second reactor of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, the last such plant built in the United States.

Energy policies must change with the times, technology and needs. McCain is right when he says that nuclear-powered submarines have operated safely for two generations and right that Europe has safely relied on nearly 200 nuclear reactors for half its electricity. But that doesn’t erase two big problems with a rekindling of the nuclear power industry in the United States: the inability to find a permanent repository for radioactive waste and the need for enormous government subsidies to make nuclear power profitable for investors.

It suits McCain’s campaign needs at the moment to pretend that drilling for offshore oil or resurrecting nuclear power will lower gasoline or heating oil prices. But if they do, the effect won’t be felt for years, if not decades. What could make a big difference in the short run, is a massive public investment in conservation coupled with more federal money to fund energy alternatives, proposals for which McCain has shown only modest support.

What New Hampshire needs is a lot of help to keep people from freezing this winter, a safe, permanent home for the nuclear waste already produced at Seabrook, and a federal energy policy that truly would free the nation from its dependence on fossil fuels. At least so far, that’s not a plan McCain is offering.

Originally published by Monitor staff.

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