Obama strong on environment
Chicago Tribune | April 23, 2007
IOWA CITY -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took his
campaign to Iowa's largest university campus Sunday to pitch tougher
environmental policies and an anti-war message before thousands gathered on
Earth Day.
"We know that we've got an energy policy that is the absence of an energy
policy," Obama said under a warm spring sun on the University of Iowa's
campus. "It's an energy policy that sends $800 million a day to some of the
most hostile nations on Earth, that leads us to fund both sides of the war
on terrorism."
But Obama (D-Ill.) was not alone among leading Democratic candidates in
trying to convince potential voters of his environmental conscience in a
state that will hold the first presidential voting in January.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), campaigning only about 130 miles to
the north at Luther College in Decorah, pushed proposals to increase
renewable energy research and establish a goal of getting 20 percent of the
nation's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
And former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who is leading in many polls of
likely Iowa caucus participants, encouraged Americans to reduce carbon
emissions while campaigning in Waterloo and Ft. Dodge.
Edwards, however, was distracted throughout the weekend by reports that his
campaign paid for $400 haircuts, an expense he has said he will repay. The
topic landed him on the front page of Saturday's Des Moines Register, while
one of that paper's leading columnists severely teased him in Sunday's
edition.
Obama, meanwhile, met with several dozen Iowa volunteers who spent the
morning planting tree seedlings purchased by his campaign. Although he was
scheduled to later fly by chartered jet back to Chicago, his campaign
stressed that he arrived in a sport utility vehicle that burns E-85 fuel, a
blend that is 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol.
Speaking to a crowd that a university official estimated at 10,000, Obama
said he is convinced global warming is a real threat that requires an
immediate response.
"The days of debate about whether or not the globe is getting warmer are
over," he said. "There are about two holdouts left in the Bush White House.
But everybody else across the planet knows that this is an issue that we've
got to attend to."
Prior to his speech, Obama told reporters that Americans are ready for tough
new environmental measures and have been called to action partly by "An
Inconvenient Truth," a film featuring Al Gore.
"Vice President Gore, I think, deserves a lot of credit for this," Obama
said. "His film captivated not just the country, but the world. But you're
also just seeing mounting evidence of the severity of the problem and the
urgency of us needing to take steps."
Reiterating a proposal he made Friday in New Hampshire, Obama called for
lower carbon emissions from fuels. His plan echoes an initiative of
California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who issued an executive
order this year requiring fuels sold in his state to contain less carbon in
order to cut emissions.
Obama essentially would impose the California plan on the nation, requiring
that fuels sold in the U.S. contain 5 percent less carbon by 2015 and 10
percent less by 2020, something he said would be equivalent to taking 32
million cars off the road.
"That is something we could do right now," he said. "It is well within our
capacity." Obama also called for boosting fuel efficiency standards for cars
to an average 43 miles per gallon, saying the nation could then "import zero
oil from the Middle East."
Although he has supported increased coal production that would benefit
southern Illinois' economy while also potentially increasing global warming,
his campaign said he also backs so-called "carbon sequestration" techniques
that would capture and store carbon emissions from coal.
Although the environment was his main theme, Obama spent more than 10
minutes talking about his biography, later hammering against the situation
in Iraq, a topic that drew some of his strongest applause in an area
considered the most liberal in the state.
"There is no military solution in Iraq," he said. "Our young men and women
have done their duty. It is time to bring them home."
The trip was Obama's sixth to Iowa since he announced his candidacy in
February. The Iowa City event followed one Saturday evening in a Des Moines
suburb where he spoke to a group of progressive activists and members of the
United Auto Workers.
Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, who endorsed Obama even before former Iowa Gov.
Tom Vilsack left the presidential race, said Obama is doing well in the
leadoff caucus state.
"He's drawn by far the biggest crowds of any candidate in either party,"
Miller said. "Our challenge is to harvest this big potential on caucus
night."
