Energy still an issue despite low gas prices

As Greenpeace volunteers set up Tuesday morning outside U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's Northbrook office, the incumbent 10th District Congressman was announcing a federal clean up of contaminated sediment at Waukegan Harbor.

Greenpeace doesn't endorse political candidates, but the environmental group was taking Kirk's temperature on global warming.

The economy has taken center stage but environmental issues remain a key consideration for Kirk and Democratic challenger Dan Seals. Here are some environmental themes that surfaced during the campaign:

•In May, Seals, a Wilmette business consultant, focused attention on energy costs with a traffic-snarling gas giveaway at a Lincolnshire station. Critics called Seals paying the difference between the going rate of $4.14 per gallon and the $1.85 per gallon price two years earlier, a stunt. But it gave him an opportunity to voice support to lower prices by tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and requiring oil companies to drill areas they already lease onshore and offshore.

•In June, Kirk introduced the Appollo Energy Independence Act, a $23 billion initiative to provide market incentives to produce and use clean energy and reduce oil consumption. It calls for making permanent tax credits for wind and other renewable energies, and establishing and expanding tax incentives for alternative vehicles. Seals argued it drew heavily from previous bills introduced by U.S. Rep Jay Inslee of Washington, who joined Seals last month in a call for a comprehensive plan for energy independence.

•Seals has been critical of Kirk accepting $50,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies, as reported by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Kirk says the same group reported he has taken no money from oil companies for this campaign and that oil companies account for less than 1 percent of all contributions to his campaign since 2001.

•Seals says Kirk voted for a bill that provided billions in tax breaks and subsidies to oil and gas companies. On his Web site, Kirk says he voted to repeal $14 billion in tax credits and subsidies for oil companies.

•Though gasoline prices have dropped dramatically in recent weeks, both candidates recognize dependence on foreign oil is a long-term problem and favor investment in new technologies.

Greenpeace field organizer Adam Smit said Kirk had taken commendable stances by opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supporting tax credits for renewable energy. However, his advocacy of new nuclear plants and offshore drilling represent false solutions.

Seals completed the environmental group's Congressional survey and fielded a platform that addresses global warming, Smit said, and was asking Kirk to do the same.

Kirk notes his endorsements by the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters. He was an original co-sponsor of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2007, to help fight global climate change.

Kirk highlights his work to protect the Great Lakes and his successful fight to stop BP from dumping toxins into Lake Michigan.