Gore backs incentives for reducing oil dependence

The plans outlined by the vice president, majority of which are in the form of tax breaks for businesses which provide or invest in more efficient, less conventional or less polluting sources of energy, represented an estimated $75 billion in lost federal revenue or spending over ten years.

“There can be a next stage of prosperity in which American creativity builds not just a better product but also a healthier planet,” Gore said outside an energy plant that was a model for the use of newer, cleaner, more efficient technology. “We will say to the nation’s inventors and entrepreneurs: if you invest in these new technologies, America will invest in you. And we will prove, once and for all, that we can clean up pollution, make our power systems more efficient and more reliable, and move away from dependence on others all with no new taxes, no new bureaucracies, and no onerous regulations.”

Gore’s approach on reducing the dependence on oil focussed on the carrot of tax savings rather than the stick of restrictions and regulations and anticipated the growth of new companies and new jobs on the cutting edge of fuel technology.