McCain frequently touches on other environmental interests on the campaign trail, including protecting Florida's Everglades and restoring jobs in Michigan by investing in "green" technologies. He likes to tell reporters about the pair of hawks that nest in the trees above his home outside Sedona, Ariz., and his recent rim-to-rim trek across the Grand Canyon.
On Monday, McCain said he would achieve his emissions targets through a "cap and trade system" similar to the one he introduced with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in 2003. He said the approach, by allowing companies to buy or trade emissions credits, would allow the market to "reward any person or company that seeks to invent, improve or acquire alternatives to carbon-based energy."
Without providing specifics, McCain said he would "add to current federal efforts" to develop technologies such as plug-in, hybrid, flex-fuel and hydrogen-powered vehicles. He also called for applying better environmental standards for "every purchase government makes."
As he often does, McCain pushed to expand nuclear power, which some environmentalists deride as costly and risky. "It doesn't take a leap in logic to conclude that if we want to arrest global warming, then nuclear energy is a powerful ally in that cause," McCain said, adding that innovations can reduce the potential hazards of nuclear power.
Both Clinton and Obama favor reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by mid-century. On Monday, Clinton said McCain's proposal did not "go far enough." Obama chided McCain for "voting against virtually every recent effort to actually invest in clean energy."
Jim DiPeso, policy director of Republicans for Environmental Protection, said McCain's accomplishments were being overlooked. "Yes, it's important to have a plan out there," he said, alluding to Clinton and Obama, "but the real test of leadership is what do you do to make that bill law."
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maeve.reston@latimes.com
