WASHINGTON -- At a speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)up for re-election and considered the leading 2008 Democratic presidential candidatescalled for a Strategic Energy Fund to jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies, and to help America reach the goal of reducing oil imports by 50% by 2025.
Our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and threatening our children's future. Right now, instead of national security [image-nocss] dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our national security, she said. I believe a 50 by 25 initiative will energize our economy, not undermine it.
In the speech, Clinton announced that she is introducing legislation to create a Strategic Energy Fund to help pay for the clean energy transition. The legislation places a temporary fee on major oil company profits that exceed a 2000-2004 profit baseline. The fee would be in place for two years, and companies could offset their fee by investing in refinery capacity, ethanol production, or electricity generation from wind and other renewable sources.
The proposal also eliminates oil company tax breaks that the companies have said they don't need, and ensures that oil companies pay their fair share of royalties for drilling on public lands. It would raise more than $50 billion to fund research, development and deployment of energy technologies that will reduce America's oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Strategic Energy Fund will:
Invest in Renewable Energy. Move America towards the goal of producing 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 by extending the production tax credit for generating electricity from wind and other renewable sources for 10 years. Transform America's Vehicles. Put more efficient vehicles on the road by doubling the consumer tax breaks for hybrids, clean diesel, and other advanced vehicles, and creating a tax incentive for fleet owners to purchase more efficient vehicles. Accelerate Homegrown Biofuels. Speed the development of cellulosic ethanol by providing loan guarantees for the first billion gallons of commercial production capacity, and providing $1 billion for research. Speed Infrastructure Conversion. Increase availability of E85 fuel pumps to 50% of gas stations by 2015 by providing station owners with a 50% tax credit for the cost of installing pumps. Unleash American Ingenuity. Accelerate energy research by creating a $9 billion Advanced Research Projects Agency for energy.Clinton also discussed renewable electricity, clean coal technology and making better use of the strategic petroleum reserve to buffer the economy from oil price shocks.
Click here to view the full text and video of the speech.
http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=255982&&
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