9th Congressional Dist. candidates spar over oil drilling
Candidates in the 9th Congressional district disagree on allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and in offshore areas, but agree that alternative energy is critical for the nation's future.
Jan Schakowsky, the Democratic incumbent, opposes offshore drilling without approval by the relevant states and is against drilling in ANWAR. Her position is there aren't enough oil reserves to feed the U.S. habit, making conservation and development of alternative fuels critical.
Michael Younan, the Republican challenger, disagrees, saying offshore and ANWAR drilling are necessary to remove us from dependence on foreign oil. He doesn't think these will harm the environment if the drilling is far enough off shore.
Morris Shanfield, the Green Party candidate, says 100 percent of energy used in the United States should be from sustainable sources. He rules out coal and nuclear energy, instead encouraging a wide range of energy-production methods, solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy sources.
Schakowsky calls for support of wind, geothermal and biofuels including switch grass, which she said is less expensive than corn. She also is in favor of research for cars that run on alternative fuels like electricity and natural gas, even more than again raising the mileage standards for gasoline-powered cars.
She would pay for incentives by canceling tax breaks for oil companies and through windfall profits taxes. Schakowsky also noted that oil companies have not applied for new refineries, another step in keeping gasoline supplies available.
She is leery of nuclear energy, but hopeful that Illinois coal can be burned cleanly through carbon sequestering programs.
Younan supports tighter gas mileage standards for cars and favors promoting alternative energy with tax credits. He thinks clean coal and nuclear energy are important.
He also advocates putting wind turbines on Lake Michigan to power surrounding states and is very enthusiastic about solar power.
He has doubts about ethanol, saying it has caused increases in food prices, but said the amount of corn grown in Illinois makes it feasible here.
Alternative fuels can free us from "aggressive people that don't like us and support their cause and pump money into their system," said Younan.
Schakowsky says that regulating speculation in gas and oil futures markets and releasing gas from U.S. emergency reserves could quickly cut prices when they get very high, as they did this year.
Younan suggests another place where oil can be found is shale reserves. For immediate relief from high gas prices, he recommends gas tax holidays and offshore drilling.