Platts looks at the key energy commitments of the Republican and Democratic parties in the run-up to the US election in November.

Democrats:

The energy platform approved by the Democrats at the end of July said a Kerry administration would “move beyond OPEC” to diversify oil imports of US oil by working to get more crude from Russia, Canada and Africa, and ensure coal would remain a major part of the power generation mix. The platform also backed many initiatives in energy bills, including provisions to foster hydrogen’s use and mandatory electricity reliability standards. It said Democrats would increase the “efficiency of natural gas use, develop the Alaska natural gas pipeline and enhance our nation’s infrastructure to help supply natural gas more effectively”.

Below is a list of the Democratic Party’s key energy commitments:

• Make the US less reliant on foreign oil imports, especially from the Middle East. The US consumes approx 2.5-mil b/d of oil from the Middle East. In Kerry's speech accepting his party's nomination for president July 29, he said "I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation (for energy) - not the Saudi royal family. And our energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East"
• Increase drilling offshore in the western and central Gulf of Mexico
• Provide automakers tax credits worth $10-bil to manufacture hybrid cars which would cut US oil demand, reduce imports from the Middle East and cut the federal government's electricity bill by $14-bil
• Cut the federal government's energy bill 20% within a decade
• Expand America's supply of natural gas by transporting gas from Alaska's North Slope
• Sign up to the Kyoto Protocol and cut greenhouse gas emissions
• Invest in hydrogen-based energy technology and other clean, renewable fuels, such as wind and wave power. Kerry is calling for a national standard assuring that 20% of the nation's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. He said he would like to set up an energy and conservation trust fund that would use current oil and gas revenue "to accelerate the development of innovative technologies, such as more efficient cars and trucks, the development of biofuels and creating clean, secure and hydrogen-based energy"
• Develop clean coal technology. Over 10 years, the Kerry energy plan would dedicate $4-bil to basic research, $2-bil in technology demonstrations to prove the commercial viability of clean coal technology and $4-bil in deployment incentives to move clean coal technologies to market
• Create jobs by promoting clean coal and renewable energy
• Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and other federal lands against energy development. The Democrat platform said while it would "use our natural resources to fuel our economy," it would end "Republican giveaways to special interests that exploit public lands without regard to environmental consequences." It also proclaimed Democrats would "protect Nevada and its communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain which has not been proven to be safe by sound science"
• Build more liquefied natural gas terminals

Republicans:

Below is a list of the Republican Party’s key energy commitments:

• Support leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
• Opposed to the Kyoto Protocol
• Opposed to mandatory controls on carbon emissions
• Extend production tax credits for wind and biomass
• Expand the use of bio-diesel and ethanol
• Meet the challenge of long-term climate change by relying on markets and new technologies to improve energy efficiency
• Organize a stable, affordable, more independent energy supply
• Remove unnecessary barriers to domestic natural gas production in new areas, such as Alaska and the Rocky Mountains
• Support the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository
• Meet the challenge of long-term climate change by relying on markets and new technologies to improve energy efficiency
• Construct new nuclear power plants through the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative
• Commit $2-bil over 10 years for clean coal research and development. That commitment is represented in the FutureGen project, a public and private effort involving carbon sequestration in a power plant that would burn coal more cleanly
• Supports the Clear Skies proposal: this features a cap-and-trade system and will reduce power plant emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury by 70%. That commitment is represented in the FutureGen project

Created: Sep 7, 2004