FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 7, 2008
CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384
David Willett, 202.675.6698
AD WATCH:
New "Grand Oil Party"Attack Ad Touts McCain's Failed Solutions, Falsely Claims Obama Offers "No New Solutions"
Washington, D.C.--The Republican National Committee (RNC) began airing a new attack ad meant to highlight John McCain’s so-called solutions to our energy crisis, while falsely attacking Obama over his energy plan. The ad began airing in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and will run through July 15. It can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE8_NecN3WA.
"What this ad really shows is that John McCain and the Republican Party only have more of the same to offer when it comes to energy—more drilling; more dirty, dangerous, and distracting nuclear power plants; and more schemes designed to pad Big Oil’s bottom line while denying consumers real relief at the pump,” said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club Political Director. "And while John McCain claims he wants to stand up to special interests, his party is spending $3 million on false and misleading attack ads against Barack Obama—after raking in more than $3.6 million from the oil industry. While Barack Obama is offering a visionary plan to make the clean energy future a reality, it’s John McCain who’s sticking to the party line on energy: the ‘Grand Oil Party’ line."
RNC Ad Touts John McCain’s Outdated and Misguided Energy Plan:
John McCain’s Misguided Gas Tax Plan Would Offer No Relief At The Pump
- John McCain’s plan has been denounced by over 200 leading economists—including 4 Nobel Prize winners. (Source: Bloomberg News, 05/05/2008)
- The same leading economists specifically note that the plan would offer no relief at the pump and could merely pad Big Oil’s bottom line with an additional 18 cents per gallon. (Source: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM43_080502_list_gastax.html)
John McCain’s Offshore Drilling Flip-Flop is Dirty, Dangerous, and Would Do Nothing to Lower Gas Prices
- Instead of straight talk, John McCain went straight to Houston and called for giving the oil industry exactly what it’s wanted for 30 years—the unfettered “exploration and exploitation” of our coasts, to use McCain’s own descriptions of his proposal. (Source: Washington Post, 06/16/2008)
- McCain claims his plan would offer “psychological” relief, while even the Bush Administration admits that it won’t do anything to lower prices today, tomorrow, or even a decade from now. (Source: ABC News, 06/24/2008; Energy Information Administration)
- John McCain repeats the lie that offshore drilling is environmentally safe and that no spills occurred as a result of hurricanes Rita and Katrina. In fact, the two storms resulted in 6 major, 5 medium, and over 5,000 minor spills—resulting in a total of over 9 million gallons of oil spilled. (Source: U.S. Coast Guard: http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/docs/PDFs/osltf_report_hurricanes.pdf)
John McCain Offers Nothing More Than Empty Rhetoric on ‘Alternative’ Energy
- John McCain talks about renewable energy every single day, yet has actively opposed the policies needed to make the clean energy economy a reality.
- John McCain—like President Bush, coal companies, and the utility industry—opposes a Renewable Electricity Standard and has consistently voted against such a standard in the past. (Sources: 2005 Senate Vote #141, 6/16/2005; 2002 Senate Vote #50, 3/14/2002; 2002 Senate Vote #55, 3/21/2002; 2002 Senate Vote #59, 3/21/2002)
- John McCain believes the renewable energy industry is “doing fine” and doesn’t need any incentives. While he offered a $300 million gimmick on electric cars, he has voted against $290 million for clean energy. Meanwhile, John McCain favors billions in new and existing subsidies for dirty, dangerous, and distracting nuclear power. (Sources: Grist, 10/1/07; 2006 Senate Vote #42, 3/14/2006)
- If key clean energy incentives that are in danger of expiring soon are not renewed, it could cost more than 116,000 hardworking Americans in the wind and solar industries alone their jobs and sacrifice $19 billion in economic growth. Twice, when every single other Senator voted and measures to renew these critical incentives lost by just a single vote, John McCain didn’t even show up to vote when he could have made the difference. (Sources: Navigant Consulting study, 02/04/2008, http://www.awea.org/newsroom/pdf/Tax_Credit_Impact.pdf; 2007 Senate Vote #425, 2008 Senate Vote #8)
John McCain’s Tax Plan Would Benefit Big Oil
- John McCain’s tax plan includes a dramatic 10 percent cut in the federal corporate tax rate, as well as allowing added deductions for investments in equipment and technology.
- John McCain’s tax plan would deliver a $3.8 billion tax cut to the five largest American oil companies alone. It would also cost a stunning $1.7 trillion overall. (Source: Center for American Progress Action, 05/27/2008, http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/pdf/oil_tax.pdf)
John McCain Says He Supports ‘Conservation,’ But Has Spotty Record on Fuel Economy
- Unlike Obama, who fought hard to secure the first increase fuel economy standards in over 30 years, John McCain didn’t even show up to any votes on last year’s landmark energy bill. And he has a spotty record on fuel economy in the past. (Sources: Washington Post, 05/13/2008; New York Times, 05/12/2008; 2007 Senates Votes #208, #225, #226, #416, #425, #430)
John McCain Says He Supports ‘Conservation,’ But Opposes Green Building Standards
- John McCain opposes any required standards for green buildings—something that could dramatically cut our energy use by making our homes, offices, and government buildings more energy efficient. (Sources: GreenBiz, 06/17/2008, http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/06/17/confronting-energy-efficiency-election-year)
John McCain’s Global Warming Plan is Outdated and Favors Special Interests
John McCain may have shown leadership when he introduced his global warming plan in 2002; however, his plan remains stuck in the past.
- Unlike Obama’s plan, it fails to do what scientists tell us is necessary to avert the most catastrophic effects of global warming: an emissions reduction of 80 percent by 2050.
- Unlike Obama’s plan, it gives away hundreds of billions of dollars in pollution permits to polluters—Big Oil, Big Coal, and others. It also lavishes billions in new subsidies on the nuclear industry—one of the most heavily subsidized industries in history.
John McCain Wants $1 TRILLION Worth of New Nuclear Plants
- John McCain wants to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030 and then 55 more after that—effectively doubling the number of plants and amount of highly toxic waste we’d have to deal with. (Source: Bloomberg News, 06/19/2008)
- By utility companies’ own estimates in recent regulatory filings, this plan could cost at least $1 trillion.
(Source: EnergyBiz, May/June 2008, ) - McCain admits that it’s extremely dangerous and insecure to have thousands of tons of high-level nuclear waste sitting at reactors across the country, yet proposes doubling the size of the problem. (Source: John McCain, YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPlaHQCKc34)
John McCain Wants to Stick Nevadans with 77,000 Tons of Nuclear Waste Forever, Yet ‘Wouldn’t Be Comfortable’ With It Traveling Through His Own State
- John McCain is one of the biggest proponents of the unsafe and unproven Yucca Mountain waste repository site.
- Waste would have to travel through major population centers in at least 43 states on its way to Nevada site. (Source: State of Nevada: http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/states/us.htm)
- John McCain says he wouldn’t be comfortable with waste traveling through his own state on its way to Yucca Mountain. (Source: Las Vegas Sun, 06/26/2008)
RNC Ad Blatantly Lies, Claims Obama Offers ‘No New Solutions’:
Some ‘New Solutions’ Offered by Barack Obama:
- Invest $150 billion over ten years to build the clean energy economy and create 5,000,000 new jobs.
- Giving American automakers the tools they need to double fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon.
- Require 25 percent of our electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025.
- Develop and invest in next-generation cellulosic biofuels and produce 2 billion gallons by 2013, to help get us off of oil without the negative environmental and economic consequences of corn ethanol.
- Make our buildings greener by improving the energy efficiency of new buildings by 50 percent and existing building by 25 percent over the next ten years.
- Make all new buildings net-zero or carbon-neutral by 2030.
- Introduce a low-carbon fuel standard to help fight global warming and reduce our dependence on oil without turning to dangerous alternatives like oil shale, tar sands, and liquid coal.
- Use more of the energy we’re already producing by investing in a digital smart grid.
(Source: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/)
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