Republican Congressional candidate Rodney Davis announced his energy plan in Springfield Tuesday. The campaign apparently forgot to send my invitation but you can see the plan posted online. The plan consist of several paragraphs in a press release filled with familiar talking points.
Davis supports an "all of the above" energy policy. If that sounds familiar it's because "all of the above" is also supported by Rodney Davis' former employer, Congressman John Shimkus, plus Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, David Gill's previous challenger in the Democratic primary, oil industry lobbyists, the US Chamber of Commerce and nearly everyone else with a consultant who reads polling data. It's used by so many politicians with vastly different energy policies that the phrase has become a meaningless cliche.
Like John Shimkus, Davis opposes new EPA regulation of coal, cap-and-trade, and any method of putting a price on carbon. He supports building the Keystone XL pipeline and subsidizing every energy source imaginable. That's known as the "now taking campaign donations from all sectors of the energy industry" subsidy policy.
Davis will also oppose what he calls "radical" international efforts to reduce carbon pollution that causes climate change, such as the Kyoto Protocol. One hundred ninety-three nations already signed the Kyoto Protocol and the United States is on target to meet Kyoto carbon levels thanks to the large drop in coal power generation.
Hint: When you oppose something accepted as a necessity by nearly every nation in the world, and we know it can be realistically achieved, then the radical you're looking for is in the mirror.
What the energy press release doesn't mention is climate change. That's something like holding a press conference about apple pie and refusing to talk about apples.
I understand his reluctance. Davis must pander to a Tea Party base who believe climate change is a U.N. socialist conspiracy to rule the world. At the same time, he's running in a very slightly Democratic district that includes at least a dozen colleges. The 13th Congressional district doesn't want a Congressman who's anti-science.
And so, the silence continues.
First posted at my blog www.thereisaway.us.