Coal, Oil, Wind and Solar

A couple of weeks ago we talked about the topic of the environment and conservation. One of the things that we found was that the candidates had little interest in conservation. This week we look at another facet of the environment, energy.  People have been arguing about renewable energy, offshore drilling and ways to make America less dependent on outside countries for our energy needs.

The candidates in gubernatorial both have different stances of the importance of this subject to the state of Missouri. Spence’s stance is almost non-existent with the only mention of anything related to the topic of energy, is his perspective on the federal Cap and Trade mandate. The cap and trade mandate has the mission of reducing the amount of pollution that gets releases into the atmosphere.

Nixon on the other hand, has a lot to say about the topic. He outlines his beliefs about energy on his site. For Nixon, all types of renewable energy should be explored. He uses terms such as innovative and necessary for Missouri’s development.  This shows that he is looking to improve more than just Missouri’s economy and look at every aspect of needs.

He also links renewable energy and finding alternative energy sources to creating jobs. Nixon believes that by looking into all available energy options, more jobs can be created by pursuing these options. 

He continues to use this type of positive languages when speaking about energy. Nixon is for pretty much for advancing every form of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, as well as creating more oil pipelines to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.  He has also endorsed a plan that will build anuclear reactor in a Ameren Plant that he says will begin the next generation of nuclear energy.

Nixon’s continued support of all these types of energy and his upbeat attitude and language shows the Missouri people that he cares about all the facets of Missouri, not just the short termed issues that at the forefront of people’s minds.

This leads to the question, can Spence’s lack of rhetoric and opinions on topics such as energy hurt his chances in the race. While Spence has many issues listed on his site, the descriptions of his stances are sparse. His rhetoric is so focused on the economy, it can lead one to believe that while he is capable of fixing the economy, he may lack the ability to effectively help Missouri will all of its issues.