From The Consortium News
By Jason Leopold

John McCain, who once was regarded as a top Republican ally of the environmental movement, has embraced an energy plan nearly identical to Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Energy Policy, which was drafted largely by industry executives and which pushed their desire for more oil drilling and nuclear power.

Now echoing those views, McCain declares repeatedly, “We need to drill here and we need to drill now.” Beyond opening up large tracts of protected coastal waters for oil exploration, McCain has called for a massive expansion of nuclear power.

“If I am elected president, I will set this nation on a course to building 45 new reactors by the year 2030, with the ultimate goal of 100 new plants to power the homes and factories and cities of America,” McCain said during a campaign stop at a nuclear power plant in Michigan on Tuesday.

McCain’s current positions on offshore drilling and nuclear power dovetail with the policies of the Bush administration and mark a sharp break between major environmental groups and McCain, who previously used his environmental credentials as proof of his maverick ways.

As McCain abandoned his opposition to offshore drilling in June, Sierra Club political director Cathy Duvall said McCain “is using the environment as a way to portray himself as being different from George Bush. But the reality is that he isn’t.”

The Sierra Club, which is considered the oldest and largest environmental organization, has even begun running ads criticizing McCain and favoring Barack Obama.

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