Kucinich On Energy And The Environment

We have to recognize the relationship between global warming and “global warring”. Just as dependence on foreign oil has led to wars in the Middle East, allocating an outrageous amount of our budget to the Pentagon facilitates and preserves this dependence on foreign oil. Dennis Kucinich understands this connection and so, as stated above, will slash the Pentagon budget by 15% as his first step to move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable and renewable fuels and energy sources. As stated above, this money will go to education, as well as creating his Works Green Administration (WGA). The WGA will couple the EPA with NASA to develop new technologies to utilize alternative fuels and energies.

Inspired by FDR's Works Progress Administration, the WGA utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our schools, bridges, roads, ports, water systems, and environmental systems. Not only does the bold practicality of the plan lie in putting Americans back to work by investing in the national wealth of our own infrastructure, but the plan also incorporates environmental and energy concerns to further create wealth for the country and save individual families more money. For example, not only will the public works projects stress green building and renewable energy technology, but the plan will enable homes to be retrofit with green building, solar and wind microtechnology which will save families money on their energy bills. The WGA rebuilding effort will incorporate sustainable development and renewable energy from our public infrastructure to the millions of private homes that choose to retrofit with wind and solar technologies to save on family energy costs. In fact, they will be able to sell energy back to the grid.

The role of utilities will change dramatically because it will no longer be a centralized approach toward energy production. Utility companies will have to provide support for green alternatives. They will no longer be dictating energy costs, as Kucinich will work to break up the monopolies and ensure close regulation of their activities. They will be required to go green as license conditions and shut down if they violate the Clean Air Act. We will finally have a strict and EPA.

Further, Kucinich will finally committ the U.S. to the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as incorporating a carbon tax to create disincentives for using carbon-based energies. However, he believes this isn’t enough; simply punishing those people who are using carbons is not the answer. Rather, Kucinich wants to put the emphasis first on the government supporting renewable technologies, to move the country toward a renewable portfolio standard of at least 30% by 2020.

Kucinich will create a cooperative and synergistic relationship between all departments and administrations within the government for the purpose of greening America. Whether it's the Small Business Administration, or the Housing and Urban Development Department, or the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Labor, each would incorporate green goals into its policies.

Internationally, as President, Kucinich will work with the leaders of China and India and other nations to promote an environmental consciousness and sustainable economies. After withdrawing from NAFTA, the new trade agreements will include requirements for protecting the air and the water and the land of all the countries we do business with.

Dennis Kucinich has a long history and strong committment of fighting for the environment. He was active in helping draft the first environmental law protecting the air, as a member of the Cleveland City Council 30 years ago and led the effort in Ohio challenging nuclear power as being unsafe, unreliable, and unsustainable. Internationally he attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, advocating a plan with Mikhail Gorbachev for a Global Green Deal that would enable the introduction of $50 billion of new solar projects around the world.

Support Dennis Kucinich and make America a leader in protecting our environment and creating a sustainable future.