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That's John McCain delivering his climate change speech yesterday, surrounded by models of wind turbines. As you see, he is in Oregon. What you don't see -- and what the folks at Climate Progress astutely noted -- is that McCain delivered his remarks at the Portland headquarters of Vestas, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer.
McCain need only look in the mirror to understand why finding an American turbine manufacturer has become such a challenge. He has repeatedly opposed tax breaks and subsidies for the once dominant American industry, and has been particularly soft in his support for the wind power production tax credit. As Climate Progress noted, that tax credit has been the key incentive for the industry, "allowing it to compete with our better-subsidized power sources (like nuclear) in this country, and to partly offset the much bigger subsidies other countries have for renewables."
You may also remember that soon after securing the GOP nomination in February, McCain skipped a Senate vote on a $204 billion stimulus package that included a one-year extension of the PTC, as well as credits for energy-efficient homes and appliances. The bill failed by one vote, unable to hit the 60-vote threshold necessary to stop a GOP filibuster. McCain was in Washington, D.C. at the time of the vote.
Of course, how surprised should be really be about the hypocrisy of yesterday's speech location? Remember, this is a senator who earned a score of 0 (zero) from the the League of Conservation Voters after he failed to show up for every one of the 15 votes last year related to conservation issues, ranging from a bill on CAFE and energy efficiency standards to the Farm Bill.
And as the Center for American Progress has nicely documented, McCain has made a habit opposing renewable energy, voting to scrap or weaken the renewable portfolio standards for utilities three time in 2002 alone, and again in 2005. But hey, those turbines make nice speech props.
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