Energy Policy of a Gore Administration?

CAFE yes. Nuclear no. Fear, ignorance and Nimbyism. Not to say nuclear doesn't have concerns but without a viable fuel rod storage facility or reprocessing I don't see it gaining ground
 

jahenders

Banned
Yes to everything restrictive, expensive, or considered "green." So, carbon tax, fracking limitations, CAFE, no progress on nuclear, mandates on percentage of power from renewables (whether they're ready or not), far more Solyndras, etc.
 
I doubt Gore would accomplish much of significance with regards to energy or anything else related to domestic policy with the GOP controlling congress. They'd do to him what they did to Obama or worse. Better than Bush/Cheney for sure though.
 
He wouldn't be able to do much. He'd only have a few months before 9/11 takes precedent and he focuses on Afghanistan. Conflict over Iraq, as well as questions on why the Democratic Party let 9/11 happen on his watch, would dominate the second half of the Gore presidency, and he'd lose reelection in 2004.
 
A Gore administration might let fracking slide by, under the pretense that it is a "cleaner" fuel. (it is cleaner burning, but not as an overall process) I think folks are right that nuclear probably wouldn't see much boost. Bush did a few things for nuclear, but it wasn't particularly popular and hardly a dramatic policy change from the norm anyway.

As far as carbon tax vs. cap and trade, I think cap and trade would be the more popular approach for the same reason it is popular IOTL - it's not a direct tax, the "punishment" is applied nationally, not individually or even by industry; there's a lot of leeway, and the system permits buying up the caps of smaller nations.
 
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