9-27-08, 9:46 am

During the presidential debate, Sept. 26, John McCain claimed, “I voted for alternate fuel all my time… No one can be opposed to alternate energy, no one.” But John McCain's own record suggests he may be confused about how he has voted, not just once or twice, but 23 times against renewable energy.

In 1992, McCain voted against ending debate on the Energy Bill, which included provisions to encourage energy conservation and increase domestic energy production. (In other words, McCain supported an attempt to filibuster that bill along partisan lines.)

A few years later in 1999, McCain used Senate procedures to oppose an amendment that would have increased funding for energy supply and research and development activities for renewable energy sources.

In May 2001, McCain voted with George W. Bush against establishing tax credits for investments in renewable energy technologies, incentives for new energy efficient residential construction, and tax deductions for increased energy efficiency in commercial buildings.

The following year, McCain voted again with George W. Bush against an amendment to require utilities to generate 10 percent of electricity from renewable energy facilities by 2020. In that same energy package on a different measure, McCain voted for an amendment that would allow retail electric suppliers to avoid strong federal renewable energy standards. In addition to these actions, McCain voted to allow states to waive federal standards on renewable electricity use. That same year, along party lines and in line with George W. Bush's policies, McCain opposed a measure that would overhaul the nation's energy policies, restructure the electricity system and provide for $14.1 billion in energy-related tax incentives – in the wake of the Enron scandal. As part of that bill, McCain's opposition included a rejection of funding for ethanol production. Two days later, McCain again agreed with George W. Bush when he voted to kill provisions in the 2002 energy bill relating to alternative vehicles and fuel incentives. Two days later, McCain voted against the passage of a bill that would overhaul the nation's energy policies, restructure the electricity system and provide for approximately $15 billion in tax incentives for 'alternate energy.' The following year, McCain voted three times to find various excuses to allow states to avoid investing in renewable energy sources, again in line with George W. Bush's views on the matter.

In June 2003, McCain voted a number of times against expanding the use of ethanol and other renewable energy as an alternative to gasoline. McCain even voted against a measure to eliminate the use of the carcinogenic pollutant methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and to apply tougher standards on air pollution. Again, on these matters, John McCain voted along partisan lines and in sync with George W. Bush's position.

That same year, when McCain voted against the 2003 Energy Bill, he did so because it set higher fuel-economy standards and sought increased use of renewable fuels.

In 2004, McCain voted against a measure that would require that gasoline sold in or introduced into the US contain renewable fuel. He voted twice the following year to continue to allow the use of MTBE and against higher standards on air pollution caused by burning gasoline. Even as the need to fight global warming by investing in renewable energy sources became increasingly a public demand in 2005, McCain sided with Republican ideologues in his party who pretended global warming wasn't real when he voted against a mandate on the use of renewable energy sources. McCain rejected a measure that would have required the use of at least 10 percent of the electricity sold by electric utilities to be from renewable energy sources by 2020. That same year, when he had the chance to take a maverick position on energy legislation that would have provided tax incentives for renewable energy sources, McCain chose to vote instead with George W. Bush and the Republicans.

Again in 2005, when McCain had the chance to prove that he supported 'alternate energy,' he failed to do so when he voted to slash the popular and successful Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program for farmers, cutting it from its current $23 million to only $3 million.

And in 2006, when it became clear that George W. Bush and the Republicans were on the losing side of the public debate on alternative energy investments, McCain still voted with his president and party against investments in renewable energy research and development in cellulosic ethanol, wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower energy sources.

John McCain is right, 'No one can be opposed to alternate energy, no one.' But McCain's record shows that he has been one of those 'no ones' for a very long time.