11.6.2007 3:05 PM

Hillary Clinton Beefs Up Energy Proposal

With Some Goals, She's More Aggressive Than Competitors

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Sen. Hillary Clinton
The Plan: A $50 Billion Strategic Energy Fund, modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, that would pay for research, development and deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean coal technology, ethanol and other 'homegrown biofuels,' with the goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% and creating 5 million 'clean energy' jobs in a decade.
How She'd Pay for It: Royalties from drilling on public land ($10 billion), elimination of oil company subsidies ($20 billion) and the enactment of a requirement that energy companies either pay into the fund or finance their own research and development projects ($20 billion).
What Sets Her Apart: A 'Connie Mae' program to help low-income and middle-income families make investments in energy efficiency at home.

By Dan Shapley

Hillary Clinton has unveiled more details about her plan to cut back on foreign oil imports, limit greenhouse gas pollution and create 5 million jobs in a new "efficient green economy."

Her full plan, along with those of her competitors, is available at The Daily Green's Green Your Vote page.

Some highlights:

She's upgraded some of her earlier proposals, aiming to boost fuel economy to 55 mpg by 2030, aiming to get all gas stations serving up E85 ethanol blends by 2012 (instead of 2015), and requiring utilities to produce 25% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 (instead of 20% by 2020).

She also released new details about her plan to develop the biofuels industry, with incentives, research into cellulosic ethanol, and requirements for automakers to produce all flex-fuel vehicles (that can run on ethanol blends) by 2015.

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