The following are quotes from interviews with Democratic Presidential candidates on the Grist Environmental News and Commentary Blog and excerpts from official energy plans. The candidates discussed their policy perspectives on environmental issues, such as global warming, and on energy policies, such as fuel efficiency standards, fossil fuels, renewable energies and biofuels, as well as nuclear energy.

Senator Joseph Biden
Senator Biden’s energy/environment policy objectives include: setting an 80 percent emissions cap, setting a fuel economy standards of 40 miles/gallon; developing clean coal technology for use in developing countries; researching storage and waste problems of nuclear energy; supporting the production of cellulosic-based ethanol.

• Emissions Cap: ... I would cap emissions at 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and set a national RPS of 20 percent. I would announce an executive order that the federal government would not purchase one single automobile for its fleet that gets less than 40 miles to the gallon. And I would not build a single solitary federal project without it being a green project. That would have the effect of getting states to do the same thing, and that would create a pot of somewhere between a third and a half a trillion dollars that would be a lure to every major business in America to go green.
• Clean coal: ...Clean-coal technology is not the route to go in the United States, because we have other, cleaner alternatives. But I would invest a considerable amount of money in research and development of clean-coal and carbon-sequestration technologies for export. China is building one new coal-fired plant per week. That's not going to change unless there's a fundamental change in technology, because they have about 300 years of dirty coal, and they're going to use it.
• Nuclear Energy: ... I'd be spending a whole hell of a lot of money trying to figure out how to reconfigure the spent fuel into reusable fuel. I would not invest in [growing our nuclear-power capacity in its current form], but I would invest in sorting out the storage and waste problems.
• Ethanol: Corn ethanol will always be a part of the alternative fuel mix, but it is not long-term sustainable as the only feedstock for ethanol because we can only produce around 12 billion to 17 billion gallons of ethanol from corn grown in this country. But we can produce 86 billion gallons of ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks, which could replace more than half the gas consumed by this country.
• Florescent bulbs: I introduced a bill to promote compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every family in America changed just one bulb, we could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 7 million tons per year.

Source: Biden on The Record: http://grist.org/feature/2007/08/29/biden/ August 29, 2007

Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Clinton environment/energy policy objectives include: creating a Strategic energy fund; researching clean coal; researching storage issues of nuclear energy; creating a cap and trade program using an auction; and setting fuel efficiency standard of 35 miles/gallon by 2020.

• Strategic Energy Fund: I want to create a Strategic Energy Fund that would be funded by taking money away from the oil companies, by giving them the choice to invest in renewable energy or pay into the fund. We would take away their tax subsidies as well, and we would use this fund to create a clean-energy industry and millions of jobs in America. 
• Renewable Energies: What I want to do is not only look at existent, known forms of renewable energy and how we can move more quickly to commercial application and distribution for solar, wind, and geothermal, but also look at other forms of biofuel and biodiesel. You know, let's take a look at the internal combustion engine... 
• Clean Coal:  I have advocated carbon sequestration, I have advocated power plants looking for ways to use coal more cleanly and efficiently. I doubt very much that using coal in liquid form for transportation could ever pass the environmental test, but I am willing to do the research to prove one way or another.
• Nuclear Energy: I am very skeptical that nuclear could become acceptable in most regions of the country, and I am doubtful that we have yet figured out how to deal with the waste. But I keep being given information about research that is being done to resolve the waste problem. I know that will continue because that has a lot of economic power and resources behind it. But until we can figure out what to do with the waste and overcome the political objections, we should not be putting a heavy emphasis on nuclear.
• Cap and Trade Program: A cap-and-trade [program] can be designed and implemented in a number of ways. I would strongly favor using an auction for the allocation of the permits -- an auction that would [sell] as close to 100 percent of the permits as possible [rather than giving a percentage of them away for free].
• Fuel Efficiency: I have supported a fuel-efficiency standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, and I've supported a variety of proposals, including tax incentives and other approaches, to help ensure that the next generation of vehicles is much more efficient than the last.

Source: Clinton on the Record. August 9, 2007 http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/08/09/clinton/

Senator Chris Dodd
Senator Dodd’s energy/environment platforms includes: setting a fuel efficiency standards of 50 miles/gallon by 2017; creating a Corporate Carbon Tax Trust fund; researching nuclear waste problems; and no investing in coal-to-liquid technologies and programs.

• Fuel Efficiency: We call for a 50-mile-per-gallon standard on automobiles by the year 2017.
• Corporate Carbon Tax: We're talking about a corporate carbon tax that would generate $50 billion a year, with the likely cost passed on to consumers being about 10 cents per gallon of gasoline… They'll be placed into a Corporate Carbon Tax Trust Fund to fund fast-tracked research, development, and deployment of renewable technologies such as wind, solar, ethanol, and other biofuels. It will also expedite the process for bringing energy-efficient technologies to market and ensure energy-efficient products such as bulbs and household appliances are price competitive, and it will offer tax credits on hybrids and other clean and efficient automobiles to make these cars affordable for all Americans.
• Nuclear Waste: ...the nuclear waste generated is an environmental hazard that I'm deeply concerned about. While the temporary solution of storing waste in dry casks may be safe, we must find a resolution to long-term concerns. We must invest in R&D to develop safe and secure ways for permanent disposal that will protect our environment, our water supply, and our country's national security. 
• Liquefied Coal: My administration would not invest in coal-to-liquid technologies and programs, and there's a very simple reason why: Turning coal into liquid fuel does not reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and support the overall goal of turning the clock back on global climate change.

Source: Dodd on the Record. August 2, 2007: http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/08/02/dodd/

John Edwards
John Edwards considers himself a front-runner on environmental issues, including running a carbon-free campaign. His environmental/energy policy includes: setting a carbon emission cap of 80 percent by 2050; setting a fuel economy standard of 40 miles/gallon by 2016; no support for  liquefied coal; and creating a requirement for cars to be run on mix of ethanol fuels.

• Carbon emissions cap: What I have proposed is capping carbon emissions in America, ratcheting the cap down each year to eventually achieve the goal of 80 percent reductions by 2050, and then auctioning off the right to emit greenhouse gases and using that money to change the way we use and produce energy in this country.
• Fuel economy standards: 40 miles/gallon by 2016
• Liquefied coal: I am against liquefied coal.
• Ethanol: The development of corn-based ethanol production and use now lays the foundation for the use of cellulosic ethanol in the future. By expanding the ethanol market, we build demand and infrastructure -- such as bio-refineries and distribution systems -- that will be used for cellulosic production...I'll create new markets for ethanol by requiring all new cars to run on both gasoline and E85 ethanol, requiring 25 percent of chain gas stations to carry E85.
• New Energy Economy Fund: I'll also create a $13 billion-a-year New Energy Economy Fund to invest in renewable and energy-efficient technology, including new methods of producing and using ethanol, like cellulosic ethanol. To raise these resources, I'll charge greenhouse-gas polluters for emission permits and repeal subsidies for big oil companies.

Source: John Edwards on the Record. July 31st, 2007. http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/07/31/edwards/

Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel’s energy/environment policy objectives include: instituting a carbon tax on oil and coal; no  cap-and-trade system; building hydroelectric power plants to create liquid hydrogen to be used as fuel, raising CAFÉ standards to European levels within 3-5 years; outlawing coal plants; no nuclear power; electric train system; and no biofuels.

• Carbon Tax: I am prepared to impose a carbon tax, at the barrel of oil and at the lump of coal.
• Cap-and-Trade system: The cap-and-trade wouldn't necessarily lower emissions...When you're capping and trading, you're not focusing on a solution; you're just giving somebody a break based upon something that somebody else is doing...The best way to solve the energy problem is to let prices rise so that alternative energies can become more economic.
• Hydrogen: One of the things we can do is take electricity from windmills, run it through water, and have hydrogen. What is now possible is that we can turn around and have hydrogen liquid. And by altering the technology of our existing cars and gas stations, they can be used to run on and distribute hydrogen liquid. Oh, it blows you away. This can probably be done within five years.
• CAFE standards: ..I would [raise] CAFE standards immediately, say that within three to five years you're going to have the same standard as Europe.
• Coal: What you can do is outlaw these coal-fired plants and turn them into hydrogen power plants.
• Nuclear Energy: I was the one who started the nuclear [power] critique back in 1969, and we were able to cap [the number of plants in the U.S.] at 150, which have now been ratcheted back to about 105. The nuclear industry is trying to crank it back up again, and a couple of significant environmentalists have bought into that. I have not.
• Electric train system: I want to superimpose an electric maglev [train] system throughout the country similar to the one that currently runs between the airport and the city of Shanghai. These maglevs can travel 300 miles an hour. Imagine if we could move trucks across this country on electricity at that speed, with no environmental pollution.
• Biofuels: What I know about the corn deal, it takes more energy to produce a gallon of biofuel from corn than it does to just use conventional fuel, so that's a negative. Secondly, we have to realize that when we're growing this stuff, we may be displacing the whole distribution of food throughout the world.

Source: Gravel on the Record. http://grist.org/feature/2007/08/07/gravel/. August 7, 2007.

Representative Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Kucinich’s environment/energy policy objectives include: creating a Work Green Administration to incorporate green goals in the federal government; fully funding alternative-energy research; requiring of 20 percent of energy from alternatives by 2010 and 30/40 percent by 2020; using wind and solar energy to power homes; phasing out nuclear and coal energy; breaking up energy utility monopolies; and no subsidies for ethanol or other biofuels.

• The Works Green Administration: You take every area of involvement in the federal government -- whether it's the Small Business Administration, or the Housing and Urban Development Department, or the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Labor. Each would incorporate green goals. We'd have billions of dollars loaned to the states at zero interest for green development programs, we'd have programs furthering green housing, agricultural policies would relate to green.
• Alternative Energy: ... Inevitably we need a requirement to move away from all carbon-based technologies, and to fund fully all alternative-energy research that is in harmony with the environment…Yes, but I'd want to put the emphasis first on the government supporting renewable technologies. A tax could reflect the full cost to society of certain types of energy.
•  Renewable energy: 20 percent of electricity from renewable energies by 2010…For the next time frame, I think we could set something by 2020 and look to 30 or 40 percent.
• Wind and solar energy: One of my proposals is to have millions of homes with wind and solar technologies, and people can sell energy back to the grid. The role of utilities will change dramatically because it's not going to be a centralized approach toward energy production... In turn, you can create millions of jobs building alternative technologies.
• Nuclear Energy: Nuclear has to be phased out. The hidden costs of nuclear are enormous -- of building these plants and storing the waste forever
• Coal: …coal has to be phased out.
• Electric Utility Industry: We're going to break up the monopolies in utilities, that's No. 1. No. 2, these utilities are going to be closely regulated for their activities. No. 3, they're going to be required to go green as license conditions. No. 4, they're going to be closely monitored and shut down if they violate the Clean Air Act. We're going to have a very aggressive EPA, and utilities are not going to be dictating energy costs.
• Subsidies for ethanol and biodiesel: I don't know about subsidies. I think those technologies are transitional to fuel-cell technology. I wouldn't want to create incentives to lock us into usages that are not where we ultimately want to go. And there is a serious issue with ethanol and its impact on food supplies.

Source: Kucinich on the Record. August 1, 2007. http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/08/01/kucinich/

Senator Barak Obama
Sen. Barak Obama released an energy plan, which includes the following: reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020; investing $150 billion in a clean energy economy; increasing funding for federal workforce training programs for green technologies; establishing a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard; establishing guidelines for tracking, controlling and accounting for spent fuel at nuclear power plants; using innovate measures to dramatically improve efficiency of buildings; phasing out traditional inefficient light bulbs; investing in a digital smart grid; investing in developing advanced vehicles; building biofuel distribution infrastructure; building more livable and sustainable communities: creating a new forum of largest greenhouse gas emitters, and more.

• Reduce Carbon Emissions 80 percent by 2050: Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the level recommended by top scientists to avoid calamitous impacts.
  • 100% Allowance Auction:
  • Invest Revenue for a Clean Energy Future:

I. INVEST IN A CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY AND CREATE AMERICAN JOBS
Invest $150 billion over the next ten years to develop and deploy climate friendly energy supplies, protect our existing manufacturing base and create millions of new jobs.
(1) Increase Investment in Basic Research and Human Capital.

• Basic Research: ...double our nation's commitment to energy R&D and rely more heavily on the tremendous resources and ability of our national laboratories, universities and land grant colleges which have significant expertise in rural sources of renewable energy.
• Skilled Clean Technologies Workforce: ...use proceeds from the cap-and-trade auction program to invest in job training and transition programs to help workers and industries adapt to clean technology development and production. Obama will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable jobs…Obama will create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth…

(2) Invest in Key Technology Development.

• Develop the Next Generation of Biofuels: … Even if we are able to double -- or even triple -- production of ethanol from corn this will still offset only about 10 percent of our gasoline demand. ...Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013. Obama will also work to improve the national supply of advanced biodiesel. From here the Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Fund will speed the deployment of multiple facilities…
• Clean Coal Technology:… As president Obama will significantly increase the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low carbon coal technologies… Obama will use whatever policy tools are necessary, including standards that ban new traditional coal facilities, to ensure that we move quickly to commercialize and deploy low carbon coal technology. Obama's stringent cap on carbon will also make it uneconomic to site traditional coal facilities and discourage the use of existing inefficient coal facilities.
• Safe and Secure Nuclear Energy: …However, there is no future for expanded nuclear without first addressing four key issues: public right-to-know, security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation. Barack Obama introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to establish guidelines for tracking, controlling and accounting for spent fuel at nuclear power plants…. To prevent international nuclear material from falling into terrorist hands abroad, Obama worked closely with Sen. Dick Lugar (R -- IN) to strengthen international efforts to identify and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction…. Barack Obama believes that Yucca Mountain is not an option

(3) Invest in Key Technology Deployment.

• Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund:… This Fund will partner with existing investment funds and our National Laboratories to ensure that promising technologies move beyond the lab and are commercialized in the U.S…. Obama will invest $10 billion in this fund for five years, and reinvest profits back into the fund.
• Production Tax Credit: Obama will also extend the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) for 5 years to encourage the production of renewable energy.
• Convert our Manufacturing Centers into Clean Technology Leaders: … establishing a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and help Americans learn the new skills they may need to produce green products. 

(4) Set Standards to Allow the Market to Invest and Innovate

• Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard:… The standard, which Obama introduced in the U.S. Senate with Tom Harkin (D-IA), requires fuels suppliers to reduce the carbon their fuel emits by ten percent by 2020.
• Require 25 Percent of Electricity to Come from Renewable Sources by 2025:… Obama cosponsored a measure to create an RPS in Illinois. And recently, Illinois signed into law a 25 percent RPS by 2025 measure modeled on Obama's state senate RPS efforts

II. INVEST IN THE FASTEST, CHEAPEST WAY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS: ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• Make the Federal Government the Leader in Saving Electricity:
  • Make Federal Buildings More Efficient:
  • Overhaul Federal Efficiency Codes: 
• Use Innovative Measures to Dramatically Improve Efficiency of Buildings:
  • Set Building Efficiency Goals:
  • Establish a Grant Program for Early Adopters
  • Flip Incentives to Energy Utilities: 
  • Expand Federal Efficiency Grants:
• Phase out Traditional Inefficient Light Bulbs:
• Invest in a Digital Smart Grid: Obama will invest federal money to leverage additional state and private sector funds to help create a digitally connected power grid.

III. STRENGTHEN OUR OIL SECURITY AND ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

•  Increase Fuel Economy Standards: Obama has developed an innovative approach to double fuel economy standards within 18 years…
  • Provide Support for Domestic Automakers:
• Invest in Developing Advanced Vehicles: Barack Obama has led efforts to jumpstart federal investment in advanced vehicles, including combined plug-in hybrid/flexible fuel vehicles, which have the capability of getting well over 250 miles per gallon of gasoline… Obama will also expand consumer tax incentives by lifting the 60,000-per-manufacturer cap on buyer tax credits to allow more Americans to buy ultra-efficient vehicles.
• Build Biofuel Distribution Infrastructure:... Obama is the only Democratic presidential candidate to cosponsor and actively campaign to establish the nation's first federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which is now law. Obama also led the successful effort to make gas stations eligible for a tax credit to cover 30 percent of the costs of installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps.
  • Mandate All New Vehicles are Flexible Fuel Vehicles:
  • Increase Renewable Fuel Standard:…
  • Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities:
  • Reform Federal Transportation Funding
  • Require States to Plan for Energy Conservation
  • Level Employer Incentives for Driving and Public Transit:

IV. MAKE THE U.S. A LEADER IN COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE AROUND THE WORLD

• Re-Engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Create New Forum of Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitters:
• Transfer American Technology to the Developing World to Fight Climate Change:
• Cooperate with Oil Importers to Reduce Demand
•  Ensure the United States Works with Developing Countries on Climate Change.
• Confront Deforestation and Promote Carbon Sequestration

Source: Sen. Barack Obama’s Energy Plan. October 8, 2007. http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/10/8/11550/3692 (the full plan is here, above contains only excerpts)

Governor Bill Richardson
Governor Richardson’s energy/environment policies include: setting a 90 percent greenhouse-gas emission reduction by 2020; building light rail and bullet trains; supporting the production of clean coal and nuclear energy; improving incentives for ethanol and biofules; and increasing the fuel economy standard to 50 miles/hour by 2020. 

• Greenhouse gas reductions: 90 percent greenhouse-gas emission reduction by 2050 and 20 percent reductions by 2020.
• Transportation: …establish light rail and bullet trains and more energy-efficient transportation. Also, land-use policies that advocate open space.
• Coal:  I'm for clean coal, but I'm not a big fan of liquefied. I do not believe that coal-to-liquids technologies represent a viable solution for the future because of the associated carbon dioxide emissions. I will push for a well-to-wheels low-carbon fuel requirement that reduces the carbon impact of our liquid fuels by 30 percent by 2020, including alternative fuels that will substitute for about 10 percent of our gasoline demand.
• Nuclear Energy: Nuclear has to be part of the mix, but I would eliminate the subsidies that nuclear and coal and oil got from the last energy bill and shift those to renewable energy, to a more equal playing field. Nuclear will not be able to move forward unless we resolve the waste issue. The [Yucca Mountain] site in Nevada has significant water, environmental, and transportation problems with it….
• Ethanol and biofuels:  We should provide incentives for distribution by, for example, helping gas stations convert at least one pump to handle E85 or other biofuels. The federal government also should use its purchasing power -- as we have done in New Mexico -- to transform the energy marketplace by, for example, purchasing more hybrid and flex-fuel cars for its own use. And I believe in cooperative ventures with other countries. I would expand our ties to Latin America with more collaboration in renewable energy and technology…. Our goal should be bold -- to replace 20 percent of liquid transportation fuels with biofuels by 2020. We should significantly ramp up federal investments in the research and development of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol…
• Fuel Economy standards: increase to 50 mpg by 2020…

Source: Richardson on the Record. August 6, 2007. http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/08/06/richardson/