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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2008 CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384
McCain Continues to Dim Clean Energy Future While Visiting Sunny Nevada McCain Opposes Plans That Could Create Thousands of Green Jobs in NV; Wants 100 New Nuclear Power Plants, Waste at Yucca Mountain
Washington, D.C.—As John McCain continued a week focused on energy issues, he stopped in Las Vegas today for a fundraiser.
John McCain continues to oppose essential incentives for clean energy that could be a boon to the economy of not only Nevada, but the nation as a whole. He opposes both the extension of the soon-to-expire Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit (these two incentives benefit renewable energy) and a national Renewable Electricity Standard. John McCain was the only Senator not to vote twice when extending the clean energy incentives failed by just a single vote (12/13/07, Vote 425; 02/06/08, Vote 8).
According to a study conducted for the Blue-Green Alliance by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, a strong national commitment to renewable energy could create over 820,000 new manufacturing jobs nationwide.
While he opposes subsidies and incentives to develop the clean energy technologies we need to fight global warming, McCain continues to support massive subsidies for costly, dirty, and distracting nuclear power. Last Thursday he announced his support for building 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030, with 55 more to follow. According to recent regulatory filings by utilities seeking to build new nuclear plants, this plan could cost at least $1 trillion. He also strongly supports using the unproven and potentially dangerous Yucca Mountain site to permanently store the thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste already created by the nuclear industry.
Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director
“100 new nuclear plants is bad news for the entire country but it’s really bad news for Nevada. While starving promising clean energy technologies of the money they need, McCain wants to build $1 trillion worth of dirty, dangerous, and distracting nuclear power plants. And he wants to stick Nevadans with America’s nuclear waste problem by storing thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste at the unsafe and unproven Yucca Mountain site.
"Unfortunately, John McCain’s opposition to key incentives for clean energy has put a dark cloud over the future of renewable energy in Nevada and across the country. Nevada’s solar resources alone could make it a leader in building the clean energy economy we need to fight global warming, create tens of thousands of new green jobs, and bring energy costs back under control.
“McCain could have been the deciding vote on this issue twice in the past year. Instead, the uncertainty caused by the endless filibustering by McCain’s allies in the Senate has the potential to throw 116,000 people of work in the wind and solar industries alone. That’s like kicking the economy while it’s down and isn’t the kind of leadership America needs in these troubled times.
“Despite a consistent record of voting against renewable energy, John McCain talks about his support for renewable energy every day on the campaign trail. If he’s really serious about making the clean energy future a reality, it’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is.”
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Paid for by the Sierra Club Political Committee, http://www.sierraclub.org/, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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