Does Obama Win Spell Victory For Ethanol And Carbon Trading?
Cleantech Group:
As Democrat Barack Obama handily won the U.S. presidency Tuesday night, cleantech insiders began projecting corn-based ethanol, carbon trading and transportation as winners too.
Obama and John McCain were both considered as having favorable policies toward cleantech, said Neal Dikeman, founding partner at Jane Capital Partners.
“With McCain or Obama, we’d have a president with some level of appreciation of clean technology,” Dikeman told the Cleantech Group. “There will be no long-term effect on energy policy with an Obama win because, quite frankly, they’re not that far apart.”
Dikeman said neither candidate took a strong-enough stance on energy independence. But some differences exist, Dikeman noted, including Obama’s longstanding support for corn-based ethanol.
Of the two candidates, Obama has also advocated a more-aggressive climate plan with a massive carbon-trading system, Dikeman said. It seemed unlikely late Tuesday (before all results were in) that Democrats would pick up the 60 votes needed to ensure a filibuster-proof Senate for a climate change bill, and Dikeman said he thinks Obama would likely have to scale back some of his policies to get a plan adopted.
However, Josh Becker, a founder of venture firm New Cycle Capital and co-chair of Cleantech for Obama, said he thinks the Democrats can easily pick up the extra votes across the aisle in order to get significant legislation passed on climate change.
“I feel these issues are bipartisan issues,” he said. “If we can’t get some Republican support then we’re not doing our job.”
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