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July 18, 2008
Posted: 04:54 PM ET
FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty: Al Gore says it will be like the challenge of landing a man on the moon. He’s calling on the United States to switch all of this country’s electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources within 10 years. Gore says our dependence on carbon-based fuels is at the core of our economic, environmental and national security crises. Here’s how Gore sums up our dilemma. “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change.” The former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner says the most important policy change will be to tax carbon dioxide pollution. Gore’s bipartisan group estimates the 30-year cost of his plan is between $1.5 and $3 trillion. But some energy experts say Gore’s plan moves way too fast, that the country won’t be able to go “cold turkey” and get off fossil fuels in a decade. Others are even more critical. Republican Senator George Voinovich says it’s “ridiculous” to think the nation could go carbon-free in 10 years. He says “We could take and put wind mills from the Atlantic to the Pacific and yes, it will increase the amount of carbon-free energy production, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not going to get the job done.” Coal supplies about half of the nation’s electricity. It’s also responsible for more than a third of the country’s carbon dioxide pollution, which is most often blamed for global warming. Here’s my question to you: Is Al Gore’s call for carbon-free electricity in 10 years doable or “ridiculous”? Interested to know which ones made it on air? |
Jack Cafferty sounds off hourly on the Situation Room on the stories crossing his radar. Now, you can check in with Jack online to see what he's thinking and weigh in with your own comments online and on TV. Send your comments on the "Cafferty File". Jack's Book
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