As the United States campaign for the next president rented the air, the issue on Energy Policy was inevitable. The two major candidates on the race to the White House agreed with each other on some of the issues that should or ought to have been done about energy and sharply disagreed on some. It was a tough battle as they stood on podiums and tried to convince the Americans how their laid policies was effective and efficient and tried to outdo one another on the Presidential Debates hosted on the national television.
The two candidates agreed that America needed to produce its own oil and stop depending on Middle East and other countries for oil. The difference came in on how to reach this goal. Obama opted for production of other sources of energy such as solar, wind and battery energy and he dedicated the tax payers’ resources to accomplish this goal. On the other hand, Romney thought it was best if America expanded its drill for oil; this was to take place in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia Coasts and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He said that Obama was intentionally cutting down on gas, oil and coal for his own alternative fuel agenda. Statistics showed that the level of oil importation had gone down by half by the year 2010 when Obama was president.
In the production of coal energy, the two candidates also agreed that coal was a great source of energy but again went further and disagreed on its production. As far as its production was concerned, Romney wanted an “aggressive” development of the coal that would lead to massive production of mercury and toxic gases which would in turn lead to air pollution and hence leading to 21,600 fatalities and 200,000 asthma attacks each year. Obama on the other hand proposed limits on the production of the same and therefore saving 21,600 lives (Roger et.al, 45).
The two candidates could however not come to an agreement on the issue of clean energy. While Obama encouraged the use of clean energy such as bio fuels by subsidizing on these products, Romney on the other hand said that he would cut funding on the renewable sources.
According to Obama, renewable sources of energy would see a reduction in the cost of energy and it would also save energy(Roger et.al, 45). Renewable sources of energy will also contribute to environmental conservation by people driving vehicles that use more advanced and efficient fuels. Cutting down of the renewable would result in approximately 37,000 layoffs leading to a drop in the economy.
As the two presidential candidates agreed on the oil production, Obama asks the congress to cut the $4 billion tax breaks for the big oil production companies and rather invest it in clean energy for environmental conservation but Romney sees it wise to continue the tax breaks which would see the oil companies paying much lower federal rates and air, water and land pollution at its peak.
On the issue of oil prices, Mr. Obama asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should increase the market oversight of the Wall Street speculators who have seen the rise in oil prices and give penalties for any illegal activities conducted at the Wall Street whereas Romney on the other hand said that he would support Wall Street speculators to increase the oil prices, terming Obama’s move as “gimmickry”. This would see the CFTC’s funding cut by 40% and hence affecting its policies.
The approval of the solar energy installation projects in public lands by Obama has led to generation of 6,000 megawatts of power which will expedite permission of the process to increase in the western states. Lands that Romney will give state authority to drill for oil even in the National Parks. New York Times noted “states as a rule tend to be interested mainly in resource development.” This would result inland degradation and therefore environmental pollution.
In conclusion Obama’s platform is better compared to Romney’s as it is environmental friendly and saves cost on fuel hence, economical.
Works cited
Roger A.,Hinrichs & Merlin H. (2012) Energy: Its Use and the Environment. Cengage Learning,
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q-9dza3IOCsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=use and environmental and its use&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YxCaUPj9GIi1iwL794AY&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA
Miller G. Tyler, Spoolman Scott E. Living in the Environment. New York: Cengage Brain.
2011 (books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=053873535X)
Manu, R.(2012) The Candidates on Energy Policy
http://www.cfr.org/united-states/candidates-energy-policy/p26796?cid=ppc-Google-issue_tracker-obama_on_energy-110712&gclid=CPOa94fZvbMCFUfJtAodRSgA6A
Zack Colman.(2012)Poll finds voters favor Obama energy policies over Romney platform.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/262259-poll-voters-favor-obama-energy-policies
