By Jasmyn Belcher
Oswego, NY – Green Populist Party congressional candidate Howie Hawkins says that the U.S. must have a "mobilization on the scale of WWII" to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Hawkins is running against Republican Dale Sweetland and Democrat Dan Maffei in New York's 25th Congressional District.
"It's time for a mobilization on the scale of World War II to make the switch from fossil fuels, autos, trucks and roads, to solar-powered electrified trains for mass transit for passenger rail between cities, and for free. That is the way we can save the most amount of oil, and get off of fossil fuels, which are putting carbon into the atmosphere and creating global warming," Hawkins said.
Hawkins proposes to redirect subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear industries to energy efficient producers, including the solar energy industry. His proposal includes a $300 billion per year clean energy fund to promote renewable energy technologies, a fossil fuel efficiency standard that would rise by 5 percent each year, and a graduated carbon tax.
Hawkins' plan also includes a "worker's superfund" to support workers whose jobs may be threatened by the shift to renewable energies.
All of the programs, Hawkins says, would be funded by cuts in military spending.
As for the energy plans of his opponents, Hawkins said they are merely "an echo" of the policies proposed by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, which will not make the U.S. less dependent on fossil fuels, Hawkins said.