Record In-Depth
- Sponsor of the FLIP-to-SAVE bill (clever acronym alert! FLIP to SAVE = Fluorescent Lightbulb Implementation Program to Save Americans Value and Energy), which would provide $50 million in grants to states to distribute compact fluorescent light bulbs and educate people about them, giving priority to low-income households.
- Cosponsor of the bipartisan Fuel Economy Reform Act, which would raise vehicle fuel-efficiency standards by 4 percent, or approximately one mile per gallon, each year. The measure includes tax incentives to help automakers retool their factories toward this goal. The bill also includes a provision that would let the Department of Transportation revise the annual targets if it determined that the planned increases were not safe, cost-effective, or technologically possible.
- Sponsor of the American Automobile Industry Promotion Act of 2007, which would support research and development of electric car motors and batteries and would define the term biodiesel to include diesel fuel made from municipal solid waste, animal waste, sludge, and oil derived from wastewater or the treatment of wastewater.
- Sees a potential role for nuclear energy, but says the problem of how to store nuclear waste needs to be dealt with. Says he would invest heavily in finding a safe storage solution and developing ways to reconfigure spent fuel into reusable fuel.
- In 2007, during his most recent run for president, proposed requiring that all cars marketed in the U.S. be flex-fuel capable by 2017.
- Wanted to require major gas stations to add more biofuel pumps.
- Proposed requiring the federal government to get 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and gradually increase to 20 percent after that.
- To promote energy efficiency, wanted to update building codes, expand the Energy Star program to include more appliances and commercial systems, , and increase incentives for more efficient commercial buildings and manufacturing systems.
- Called for the U.S. to spend $100 million a year on research and development of lithium-ion batteries, which could be used in plug-in hybrids.
- Wanted to reinstate Superfund's "polluter pays" fees -- a tax on chemical and oil companies that goes to pay for cleanup of toxic sites around the U.S.
- Opposes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- Voted against the final version of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, a sweeping, oil-friendly energy bill opposed by enviros. The act passed, and Bush signed it into law in August 2005.
- Cosponsored the Clean Power Act of 2005, which would have implemented a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
- In 2002, voted against storing nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain repository now being built in southern Nevada.
- Cosponsored legislation in 2001 and again in 2004 to renew a debt-for-nature program that allows some debt owed to the U.S. to be put into forest conservation funds.
Todd Hymas Samkara and Kate Sheppard contributed to this fact sheet.
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