FABB Blog

 

Presidential energy plans

From what we can tell, the Barack Obama campaign is the only one that mentions bicycling in their energy plan. According to the Obama Energy Fact Sheet (pdf):

Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities: Barack Obama believes that we must move beyond our simple fixation of investing so many of our transportation dollars in serving drivers and that we must make more investments that make it easier for us to walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives.

• Reform Federal Transportation Funding: Obama will build upon his efforts in the Senate to ensure that more Metropolitan Planning Organizations create policies to incentivize greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and sidewalks, and he will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country.

The Clinton energy plan (pdf) discusses the need for more public transportation and smart growth, but there is no mention of funds for better facilities for biking and walking:

As President, Hillary will increase federal funding for public transit, including buses, light rail and subways, by $1.5 billion per year. She will also link federal public transit funds to local land use policies that encourage residential developments that maximize public transit usage and discourage sprawl.

John Edwards on Ragbrai

The Edwards transportation component of his energy plan is similar:

Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled: Edwards will create incentives for states and regions to plan smart growth and transit-oriented development with benchmarks for reductions in vehicle miles traveled. He supports more resources to encourage workers to use public transportation and will encourage more affordable, low-carbon and low-ambient pollution transportation options.

However, this year he rode in Ragbrai with Lance, between Aredale and Dumont, Iowa.

On the Republican side, there is no mention of bicycling in the energy plans. However, Huckabee rides a bike. According to the Huckabee blog entry Things You Didn't Know About Huckabee:

4. He rides his bicycle to the grocery store.

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:00 PM permalink