Gore Proposes National Energy Security and Environment Trust
Fund
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
June 27 2000
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2000 (ENS) - In his role as the likely Democratic nominee for President in the November election, Vice President Al Gore is proposing to dedicate part of the expected U.S. budget surplus to create a new National Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund.
Gore introduced his energy and environmental security program at the Philadelphia power plant of Trigen Energy Corporation, a cogeneration facility which generates both heat and electricity simultaneously. Power production at the award winning plant is more than twice as efficient as the average power plant.
It can be "an every day accomplishment for Americans to develop path breaking technologies that create millions of high wage jobs, clean up the environment, and combat global warming at the same time," Gore said.
"The Fund will support private and public efforts to develop and deploy the technologies that will reduce America's dependence on big oil companies and on unreliable energy, to clean up our environment, grow our economy, and create new jobs," Gore said.
Gore says his plan would "create new job opportunities in the construction trades and in manufacturing, transportation, and energy production."
"We are close to the day," said Gore, "when Americans can buy cars with new fuel cells that truly revolutionize fuel efficiency. We've worked for this in a public-private partnership with our leading auto makers. The only emission from these cars will be water. They create no greenhouse gases at all - which means they combat global warming. And lest you think that this is a pie-in-the-sky prediction many years from the market, one version on display at this year's auto show got over 100 miles per gallon - and we learned just last week that buses powered by this technology will be driving on America's city streets within two short years."
The proposed fund would be used to provide tax cuts to help families and small businesses purchase energy and money saving vehicles, homes, appliances and industrial equipment. "We will cut taxes so families can start buying those 100-mile-per-gallon cars as they hit the showrooms," Gore promised.
The fund would be used to clean up the power plants that produce the most damaging greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Gore would use the money to enhance the reliability of the power grid by supporting distributed sources of energy, building a diversified energy infrastructure, and improving the transmission grid.
The nation's public bus system, including school buses, would be upgraded.
The funds would be invested in modern forms of public transportation such as light rail, high speed rail, and mag-lev trains that float above their tracks by magnetic levitation. This would reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and the amount of fossil fuels they consume.
Gore would use the new fund to promote bio-based fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Some of the money would be earmarked to reward soil conserving farming and sustainable forestry techniques.
"Clear, enforceable performance goals" were put forward as a "new and cost-effective way for our nation to make continued environmental progress."
"We will prove, once and for all, that we can clean up pollution, make our power systems more efficient and more reliable, and move away from dependence on others - all with no new taxes, no new bureaucracies, and no onerous regulations. In fact, we will cut taxes to help families and businesses buy the clean technology of the future," said the Vice President.
Costs for the Gore proposal will be released later this week.
A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush says the proposed plan offers nothing new.
"In a transparent attempt to fix a political problem with voters angry over higher gas prices, Al Gore is offering recycled ideas that will not reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett. "Al Gore's own Secretary of Energy admitted they were 'caught napping' while energy prices dramatically increased, and now after years of neglect, his proposals are too little, too late," added Bartlett.
While Governor Bush has always supported the creation of new renewable and clean energy sources, a focus on renewable energy alone will not decrease America's reliance on foreign oil, said Bartlett. Gore offers no solution concerning increased domestic oil production to decrease America's reliance on foreign oil, he said.
Gore's plan to reduce emissions from older plants is voluntary and does not require more stringent emission standards, the Bush campaign says.
In contrast, says Bartlett, Governor Bush signed mandatory legislation that permanently caps emissions from the more than 130 old power plants in Texas. Nitrogen oxide emissions will be cut in half, sulfur dioxide emissions will be cut by 25 percent, and new renewable and cleaner sources of energy will be built, he said.