Local Businessman Backs McCain’s Energy Policy

By Mark Binker, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

Aug. 6–Hilco Transport goes through 2,225,000 gallons of fuel a year, so company President Gurney Long and his father, Doc Long, figure they know something about rising energy prices.

“Our fuel costs have gone from being 14 percent of our costs to 24 percent,” Gurney Long said, explaining not all of that can be passed on to customers in Hilco’s construction and hauling business.

Which explained why on a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon, Doc and Gurney Long gathered some friends, employees and Guilford County’s sheriff to weigh in on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Energy policy has been one of the biggest issues discussed by McCain and his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, during the past month, with that conversation intensifying as both men rolled out energy plans recently.

Away from the spotlights that follow the candidates themselves, campaigns frequently try to arrange for surrogates to stump on their behalf.

It’s a throwback to the 19th and early 20th centuries before mass media and airplanes made candidates seemingly ubiquitous in the public consciousness.

Gurney Long describes his family as lifelong and “strong” Republicans, if not terribly active. That changed when his family got involved with state Sen. Fred Smith’s losing primary race for governor. Connections made through that effort brought the McCain campaign calling.

Doc Long said McCain’s plans to try to provide immediate relief to consumers are particularly appealing to his company. Obama’s emphasis on conservation and new sources of energy are all well and good, he said, to a point.

“But ladies and gentlemen, that’s about like putting a Band-Aid on an open wound,” Long said.

In particular, the country needs to follow McCain’s call for more drilling and exploration, he said.

“I think Mr. McCain has a more comprehensive solution to this problem than we got from Mr. Obama,” he said.

Drilling has been a focal point of conflict between Obama and McCain.

McCain has been a proponent of opening up drilling off the coast of the United States, something Obama resisted through June. The Democrat has changed his position recently, moving tentatively to allow some drilling.

For the Longs, it is McCain’s willingness to push the drilling issue that prompted them to speak out on his behalf.

Also on hand for the Long’s event was Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, a Republican who has helped organize local efforts on behalf of statewide and national candidates.

He was sharply critical of Obama, calling on him to “side up with McCain” and push Congress to pass a liberalization of offshore drilling.

Barnes said his department is spending $600,000 more on fuel this year than in the previous year.

Doc Long punctuated his remarks by saying Obama had suggested Americans conserve gas by maintaining their cars properly and keeping their tires inflated. So he handed out tire pressure gauges at the end of his talk.

Rep. John Blust, a Guilford County Republican, quipped, “Look, it’s the Obama energy plan.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com

McCain and Obama: Energy Plans

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have outlined energy plans as part of their presidential campaigns. They share similarities. For example, both favor a carbon cap and trade system to help reduce pollution and global warming.

On other points, they differ sharply. For example, McCain favors building 45 new nuclear plants by 2030. Obama says that nuclear needs to be part of the U.S.’s energy future but says safeguards for dealing with the nuclear waste need to be strengthened before expansion. Obama favors imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies to help pay for some of his proposals, while McCain opposes such a tax.

McCain has been a consistent supporter of expanding offshore drilling, a particularly hot topic in North Carolina because of the state’s coastline. That’s something Obama had categorically opposed earlier in the campaign but now tentatively says he could back under a compromise offered this week.

McCain’s Plans

McCain calls his set of energy proposals “The Lexington Project,” a play on the idea of energy independence and the name of one of the first battles in the American Revolution. It emphasizes the use of tax credits to spur the use of more fuel efficient and cleaner technologies.Among the specifics, McCain calls for:

–Expanding domestic oil exploration. –Expanding domestic production of natural gas, specifically pointing out that the “Outer Continental Shelf alone contains 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.” –The construction of 45 new nuclear plants by 2030. –A $5,000 tax credit for every customer who buys a zero-carbon emission car. –A $300 million prize to create a commercially viable battery to power passenger cars. –Automakers to expand the product of flexible fuel vehicles that can use alternatives such as biofuels. However, he stops short of calling for federal mandates like those proposed by Obama. –Eliminating tariffs and subsidies that support one alternative fuel type over another, particularly corn-based ethanol. –Strengthening the so-called CAFE standards for fuel efficiency in automobiles. –Investing $2 billion annually in clean coal technology. –Creating a new research and development tax credit equivalent to 10 percent of wages paid on new energy production projects. –Providing tax credits for wind, hydro, solar and other low-carbon fuels. –Creating a carbon cap and trade system to restrict the emission of greenhouse gases. –Making government buildings and other operations more green. –Cracking down on oil speculation but he does not support a windfall profits tax.

Obama’s Plans

Obama’s released his “New Energy for America” plan this week. It emphasizes government investment in energy-efficiency measures and new technologies and new requirements for automakers and energy companies.

In his energy plan, Obama says the government should:

–Provide a tax credit of up to $1,000 for married couples to offset rising gas prices. –Crackdown on energy speculators. Although not specifically mentioned in his energy plan, Obama has called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, a key difference between him and McCain. –Release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to help bring down gas prices. –Enact a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions from industry as a way to cut down on global warming. –Invest $150 billion in spurring green technology, such as plug-in hybrids. –Encourage car companies to put 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015. –Require all new vehicles produced to be flexible-fuel vehicles. –Require 10 percent of electricity come from renewable sources by the end of the next president’s first term. –Create an Alaskan natural gas pipeline that would bring 7 percent of the country’s need for that product into the country. –Invest in clean coal technology, which would replace dirtier systems now in place. –Create rules and safeguards for the disposal of nuclear waste before expanding the industry. Obama’s plan says that his goals probably can’t be met without including nuclear energy but that current safeguards need to be strengthened before an expansion happens. –Put programs in place to reduce U.S. demand for energy by 15 percent by 2020. –The government should revise its transportation funding policies to foster the creation of communities where people can more easily walk, bike or use other alternatives to get around.

—–

To see more of the News & Record or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.news-record.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.