KEN STREMSKY DISCUSSES ENERGY POLICY BIODIESEL FUEL, GAS STATIONS, AND POWER COMPANIES The New Hampshire Sunday News has an article with the title Fueling The Future? in the August 4, 2002 issue on page B1. Biodiesel fuel pollutes a lot less than petroleum diesel. Biodiesel fuel may be made from "vegetable oil or recycled restaurant grease." Biodiesel fuel may be used in diesel engines that use petroleum diesel. Sometimes, the diesel engines need to be modified some. The article said that in winter biodiesel needs to be mixed with petroleum diesel fuel. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel. Gas stations should not have to pay a federal tax rate greater than 10 percent on profits from the sale of biodiesel fuel. Power companies should not have to pay a federal tax rate greater than 10 percent on profits from the sale of energy derived from the usage of biodiesel fuel in diesel engines. Individuals and businesses should be allowed to deduct at least 20 percent of the cost of biodiesel fuel from their federal taxes. The more biodiesel fuel our nation uses the less foreign oil, coal, and nuclear power our country needs to use. The website for the biodiesel industry is http://www.biodiesel.org. The following are questions I was asked by a reporter dealing with energy policy. I forgot to add the word NOT when I answered one of the questions. I also mention the Honda Civic hybrid that I did not mention to the reporter. One. What role should the government have in promoting energy efficiency? The Federal Government should have a significant role in promoting energy efficiency. The Federal Government should use tax incentives to promote energy efficient homes and energy efficient cars. I believe people and businesses should be able to deduct from their federal taxes the full cost of flourescent light bulbs. I believe the Federal Government should allow people and businesses to deduct the full cost of fuel efficient cars that meet the standards set by the Federal Government from their federal taxes. The Toyota Prius which has a hybrid engine is a car that meets my standard for a fuel efficient car. The Honda Civic hybrid is another car that meets my standard for a fuel efficient car. The Federal Government should allow people and businesses to deduct the full cost of hydrogen fuel cells that they use to provide energy to their homes, cars, and office from their federal taxes. You may find out about hydrogen fuel cells at http://www.hfcletter.com. Hydrogen fuel cells may someday provide our country more energy than oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power do today. Two. Should we open parts of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge tom oil and gas exploration? How about federal lands in the Rocky Mountain Front? I do not think we need to use at this time parts of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration. I do not think we need to use federal lands in the Rocky Mountain Front for oil and gas exploration. We might have to use them someday if we do not encourage energy efficiency and hydrogen fuel cells. Three. The president's energy plan calls for an expansion of nuclear power. Do you support that? Please explain. We may need more nuclear power plants. We might need to build 35 or more nuclear power plants in the future. I hope we do not need to do this. I do NOT think we will have to if we obtain a lot more energy from hydrogen fuel cells. (In my response to the reporter I forgot to add the word not after do and before think.) We must decide where we are going to store the nuclear waste and how to ship the nuclear waste. I hope humans will someday figure out a way to eliminate nuclear waste a lot faster than humans can now. (I had a lot faster than it can now originally.) You may find out information about nuclear power plans at http://nucleartourist.com. Four. Congress has chosen not to require increased average fuel efficiency for motor vehicles, now 27.5 miles per gallon for passenger vehicles, and 20.7 for SUVs, minivans and light trucks. Do you support a higher standard for SUVs and minivans? (If so, please specify.) How about for passenger cars? (Please specify.) I think Congress should require increased average fuel efficiency for passenger vehicles, SUVs, and light trucks and that the average fuel efficiency should be at least 35 miles per gallon within the next five years. The Toyota Prius now gets more than 40 miles per gallon and it is a Super Ultra Low Emission vehicle according to http://www.toyota.com. I think improvements made to hybrid engines similar to the one that Toyota uses will allow passenger vehicles, SUVs, minivans, and light trucks to someday get over 50 miles per gallon. This might happen within the next 15 years if the Federal Government provides tax incentives to consumers and tax incentives to manufacturers. The Federal Government should not place a federal tax rate greater than 15 percent on profits from automobiles that make 35 miles per gallon or more. The Federal Government should not place a federal tax rate greater than 10 percent on profits from automobiles that make 50 miles per gallon. These rates should apply to manufacturers and sellers of automobiles. Five. The Senate energy bill includes a requirement for utilities to produce 10 percent of their electricity by 2019 from renewable fuels such as wind, solar energy, and forest and agricultural wastes. Should electricty suppliers be required to increase their proportion of renewable energy generation? What should the minimum standard be, if any? The minimum standard should be 15 percent by 2019 from renewable sources including alcohol. The Federal Government may want to build or help to build electricty generating plants that obtain electricity by burning alcohol in combustion engines. Several weeks after I answered the reporters questions, I asked for the Sierra Club to endorse my candidacy. I wrote the following after asking for the endorsement of the Sierra Club. McKinsey Quarterly which has the website http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com has a great article "Tomorrow's cars, today's engines." My energy policies I believe will speed up the development of automobiles that use fuel cells. The Federal Government should provide at least ten billion dollars a year in subsidies to the fuel cell industry. The Federal Government should provide at least five billion dollars a year in subsidies to renewable energy industries including wind, solar energy, forest and agricultural wastes, the burning of alcohol in combustion engines, and other renewable sources of energy. I think wood to energy programs are sometimes a great idea especially when the wood comes from forests that needed to be thinned out to reduce the risk of many fires. Many of the very bad fires our country has had have been caused by having to many trees in areas highly prone to fires. I think the incineration of sludge, animal, industrial, municipal, and medical wastes may be an awesome idea if technologies in these areas continue to advance. The Federal Government should provide at least one billion dollars a year in subsidies to industries that incinerate sludge, industrial, municipal, and medical waste.