compiled by Timothy Cranston
In the spirit of the political season Impressions highlights aspects of the environmental records of the two candidates from each major Party who have the most delegates at press time. PERC is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) and does not take a position on any candidate.
| ISSUES | John McCain | Mike Huckabee | Hillary Clinton | Barack Obama |
| Fuel Economy Standards For Automobiles | Supports raising standards but has not set specific target | Supports raising standards to 35 mpg by 2020 | Supports raising standards to 40 mpg by 2020 | Supports raising standards for cars to 40 mpg and light trucks to 32 mpg by 2020 |
| Renewable Energy; Domestic Energy Development | Supports renewables but has not offered specific plan; opposes development of ANWR | Calls for getting 15% of electricty from alternative energy sources by 2020; Favors opening ANWR but says, “In the long term we need to get off oil altogether” | Calls for 25% of electricity to come from renewables by 2025; opposes development of ANWR | Calls for 25% of electricity to come from renewables by 2025; opposes development of ANWR |
| Cap & Trade For Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Supports capping emissions from industry and transport at 2004 levels by 2012, then decreasing emissions to 30% of 2004 levels by 2050 | Supports cap and trade system but has no specific targets | Supports cap and trade to cut U.S. emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050 | Supports cap and trade to cut U.S. emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050 |
| Biofuels | Supports increased use of biofuels but opposes ethanol subsidies | Backs 36 billion gallon biofuels mandate; supports ethanol tariff and biofuels subsidies | Calls for 60 billion gallons of homegrown biofuels to be available for use annually in vehicles by 2030 | Calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be available each year by 2022 |
| User Fees on Public Lands | Claimed in letter to Forest Service that user fees amounted to “duplication of fee payments”; supports more federal funding | Unstated; supports user fees in general | Unstated; supports significant expansion of federal funding for national parks/forest protection | Unstated; supports more funding for parks maint.; increase funding for incentives to private land owners to protect/ restore land/wetlands |
| Kelo Decision on Eminent Domain | Vows to counteract decision and may seek constitutional amendent to overturn it | “I doubt I would have vetoed” an Iowa bill that curbs Kelotype property rights abuses | Unstated; silent on large Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn that has characteristics that are similar to those of Kelo | Opposed Kelo; does not want gov’t to seize private property for “more powerful…businesses and corporations” |
| Endangered Species | Sponsored legisation to end whaling; sponsored legislation to exempt a forest from ESA provisions | Supports sharing revenue from offshore oil development with states to prevent species from becoming endangered | Supports ESA; claimed we can not “abandon our commitment to species recovery” | Supports ESA goals but should improve; need to “move past rigid ideological positions” |
