Obama Channels CA on Carbon Reductions
Today, Barack Obama announced a new energy proposal in New Hampshire. It is modeled off of California's goal to lower carbon content in all fuels in the state. Arnold's "10 by 20" executive order set a goal of reducing the carbon intensity of fuel for passenger vehicles by 10 by 2020.
The Obama campaign said its effort would take that plan nationally. Specifically, Obama wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 5 percent in 2015 and 10 percent in 2020.
"It will take a grass-roots effort to make America greener and end the tyranny of oil," Obama said. Earth Day this Sunday, he said, "should mark the beginning of a nationwide effort to harness our technology, our ingenuity and our will to achieve energy independence in our time."
Obama's plan counts on new limits to force increased production of renewable biofuels, such as corn and cellulosic ethanol, which naturally have lower emissions. The plan would create incentives for increased research, investment in cleaner fuels and flexible-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol.
The campaign says a national fuel standard would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 200 million tons in 2020 compared with 2007 levels” the equivalent of taking about 32 million cars off the road in 2020. The campaign also estimates the annual consumption of gasoline derived from foreign oil imports would drop by about 30 billion gallons in 2020.
Obama is all ready on the record in favor of raising the fuel efficiency standards. As covered earlier, he is a co-sposoring a bill in Congress along with Feinstein and Boxer. The passage of both would mean a cut of 583 million tons of green house gasses by 2020. That is the equivalent of taking about 96 million cars off the road.
With Earth Day coming up on Sunday, expect the other candidates to spend a lot of time talking about the environment. Hopefully, a few more will step forward with new policy proposals. It is fantastic to see California being used as a model for the rest of the nation.