Baker, Luetkemeyer discuss energy

Both candidates support drilling and alternative energy sources.

By Gretchen Mahan

Published Oct. 28, 2008

The candidates for Missouri's 9th U.S. Congressional District have both said their energy policies could be offered as solutions to economic issues facing the state. Both said they support oil drilling and alternative energy sources, but they have put varying emphasis on which would help the economy.

Democratic candidate Judy Baker's campaign has focused more on promoting the expansion of the alternative energy industry, which she said would create new jobs. Republican candidate Blaine Luetkemeyer emphasizes drilling as a means of spurring economic growth and combating high energy costs.

Baker, a two-term state representative from Columbia, supports drilling, but also supports redirecting oil subsidies to help individual families. She has not said for certain whether she supports a windfall profit tax for oil companies.

Baker spokesman Paul Tencher said she would work to make Missouri a leader in the new energy economy.

"We must focus on new energy resources that reduce prices at the pump, in our homes and on our farms," Tencher said. "We can create a national energy policy that does this and creates good-paying jobs."

Luetkemeyer, a former state representative and former state tourism director, said he supports offshore drilling to maximize U.S. domestic resources while remaining environmentally conscious. He does not support a windfall profit tax on oil companies or government mandates on alternative energy production. He has said that alternative energy would be a method of lowering energy costs.

Luetkemeyer spokesman Paul Sloca said offshore drilling would be economically beneficial because the U.S. government would not be financially supporting the effort.

"These are the oil companies that would be drilling," Sloca said. "The key to that issue is opening up these areas for drilling."

Trent Summers, director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, said there are benefits to drilling and alternative energy sources.

What is most important, he said, is that energy policies keep Missouri's electrical energy rate at its current rate, which is one of the lowest in the nation.

Summers said the economy and energy directly affect each other as business owners' energy costs are passed on to the consumers.

"They are directly intertwined," he said. "The most important thing that Missouri businesses can do is invest in energy efficiency."

Summers said some businesses have put energy efficiency projects on hold because of the current conditions in the credit market.

Hank Ottinger, political chair for the Osage Group of the Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club, said alternative energy sources provide an economic opportunity to the U.S.

"A place the U.S. could really take off is in 'green' technology," Ottinger said.

Even if other countries do not take a leadership role in producing alternative energy sources, the U.S. should by designing and exporting green technology, Ottinger said.

The U.S. government should form a scientific program similar to the Manhattan Project, which was created to develop the atomic bomb during World War II, Ottinger said.

The Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, officially endorsed Baker.

Ottinger said changing public opinion toward alternative energy sources and conservation can be extremely difficult.

"Trying to change public opinion is a little bit like trying to change the course of an oil tanker," he said.