From the campaign trail, John Edwards outlines big energy plans
Today we learned something: there are other Democrats running for president besides Hillrack O’Clinton. Surprised? So were we! Seems a charming southerner, name of John Edwards, is on the campaign trail. And though he’s just your run-of-the-mill white fella, the former North Carolina senator is advancing some intriguing eco-ideas. At a speech in Iowa yesterday, he laid out an energy platform that includes capping greenhouse-gas emissions starting in 2010 and cutting them 15 percent by 2020; eliminating $3 billion in subsidies to oil companies; selling the right to emit greenhouse gases and using the proceeds to fund alternative energy; freezing electricity demand; raising fuel economy standards to 40 mpg; and drafting a new global-warming treaty that includes developing nations. “I believe the American people are ready … to take the steps that are necessary,” Edwards said. “They’re actually ready for the president of the United States to ask them to do something other than go shopping.”
