McCain offers $300m prize
2008-06-23 14:45
Washington - Republican John McCain, looking for ways to tackle the country's energy problems, is proposing a $300m government prize to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses current technology.
"In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidising special interests and excusing failure," said McCain in remarks as prepared for delivery in a speech on Monday at Fresno State University in California.
"From now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success."
With gasoline prices climbing ever higher, the US economy in trouble and global warming, developing new sources of energy and moving away from the US's dependence on foreign oil are shaping up to be major themes of the presidential campaign.
Energy problems
Both candidates have sparred in recent days over how to best tackle the country's energy problems.
Democrat Barack Obama promised on Sunday to end unregulated oil trading, claiming the so-called "Enron loophole" was partly to blame for the spike in American fuel costs, particularly record gasoline prices.
The Illinois senator has also called for a penalty on windfall profits for oil sales at or above $80 a barrel.
While McCain supports closing the loophole, he's rejected the windfall profits penalty Obama's proposing, saying the same measure caused the failure of Jimmy Carter's presidency by limiting oil exploration amid the Arab oil embargo four decades ago.
Earlier in the week, McCain called for an end to a ban on offshore oil drilling that has been in place for more than a quarter century; the Arizona has said removing the ban would be a key part of his energy plan.
Obama dismissed the idea of lifting the ban, saying it wouldn't result in any short-term results for cash-strapped Americans.
Clean Car Challenge
McCain's so-called Clean Car Challenge to award $300m to create a new type of automobile battery technology would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency".
The Arizona senator is also proposing stiffer fines for automakers who skirt existing fuel-efficiency standards, as well as incentives to increase use of domestic and foreign alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol.
In addition, McCain's proposal would provide US automakers with a $5 000 tax credit for every zero-carbon emissions car they develop and sell.
- AP