McCain MIA in Senate...could end massive solar energy project in AZ.

[dkf]

Shame on John McCain!

McCain absence could end Ariz. project
By RYAN GRIM | 7/30/08 4:35 AM EST
Text Size:
Proposed Solana energy plant
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to hold a vote this week on an extension of renewable energy tax credits that officials for the company behind the Solana solar plant (proposal seen here) say are necessary to make the project economically viable.
Photo: Courtesy

Barack Obama and John McCain have both spoken forcefully about the need to develop renewable energy resources, but their campaign-related absences from the Senate could help spell the death of a massive solar energy project in McCain’s home state of Arizona.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to hold a vote this week on an extension of renewable energy tax credits that officials for the company behind the Solana solar plant say are necessary to make the project economically viable.

In June — with Obama, McCain and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) absent — a vote on the credits fell seven votes short of the 60 needed. Kennedy, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, isn’t expected back in the Senate until September. Clinton, who supports the tax credits, is expected to be on hand for any votes this week.

Obama, who supports the extension of the tax credits, would supply one of the missing votes if he were in the Senate to vote. McCain, who hasn’t said whether he supports the extension, could be another vote in support. As the new leader of the GOP, he could bring other Republicans along with him.

But neither campaign would commit to having the senators in Washington for the vote. Without them, the credits aren’t likely to pass. And if the vote fails, officials for Abengoa — the Spanish company planning to develop the project — say they would have to take it overseas.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12159.html

[Benhurst]

1. This will be a significant test of leadership. Surely Obama will

show up for the vote. If McCain fails to do, we should make an issue of it in the fall campaign.

[jillan]

2. Many Arizonans are pissed at McCain for NEVER going to work.

I heard he has missed more days than Tim Johnson did when he had brain surgery.