McCain offers $300M prize for battery
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - June 23, 2008 The presumed Republican nominee on Monday proposed a $300
million government prize to whoever can develop an automobile
battery that far surpasses existing technology. The bounty 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," McCain said at Fresno State University.
McCain said such a device should deliver power at 30 percent of
current costs and have "the size, capacity, cost and power to
leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric
cars."
The Arizona senator also proposed 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, a so-called Clean Car Challenge would provide U.S.
automakers with a $5,000 tax credit for every zero-carbon emissions
car they develop and sell.
"In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has
thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and
excusing failure," said McCain. "From now on, we will encourage
heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest
success."
The proposal comes as gasoline has reached a record cost of more
than $4 a gallon. That has boosted the price of virtually all goods
and services, sent commuters flocking to public transportation and
increased tensions between the United States and its Middle Eastern
oil suppliers.
Last week McCain suggested one way to ease supply concerns would
be to lift a federal ban on offshore oil drilling if individual
states want to allow it even though he favored the decades-old
moratorium on drilling in the 2000 campaign. His Democratic rival,
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, opposes that idea, saying it would
do nothing to address immediate price concerns.
On Sunday, Obama told a Washington audience he would strengthen
government oversight of energy traders whose futures speculation he
blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil.
McCain told a town-hall questioner on Monday that he was unsure
of the extent of any oil speculation, but if it has boosted the
price of a barrel by 50 percent - as he has heard from some
analysts - or just 1 percent, "then it seems to me there should be
a thorough and complete investigation."
He added: "If there is anybody who took advantage of Americans
in order to enrich themselves, then it's unacceptable."
In his remarks, McCain expressed exasperation both with the
federal government and the private sector.
He said rising costs during a time of stagnant wages evokes the
1970s era of "stagflation."
Without blaming his fellow Republicans in the Bush
administration or Democrats who control Congress by name, McCain
said: "It feels the same today, because the unwise policies of our
government have left America's energy future in the control of
others."
The pork-barrel opponent also blasted "a hodgepodge of
incentives" for the purchase of fuel-efficient cars.
"Different hybrids and natural-gas cars carry different
incentives, ranging from a few hundreds dollars to four grand.
They're the handiwork of lobbyists, with all the inconsistency and
irrationality that involves," McCain said.
Following the speech, McCain was scheduled to attend fundraisers
in Fresno and Santa Barbara, part of a money push that helped the
senator raise a personal record of $21 million last month.