Election

ST. PAUL (AP) ― Sen. Norm Coleman said Monday that more oil drilling on the Outer Contintental Shelf off the country's Atlantic and Pacific coasts would generate billions of dollars for the government which could be invested in expanding consumer access to alternative energy.

In a press conference at his reelection headquarters, the Minnesota Republican called for auctioning leases to oil companies and putting the proceeds into a federal trust fund to pay for the infrastructure needed to allow more Americans to take advantage of energy generated by wind, alternative fuels and nuclear power.

"We have to do more than ad hoc proposals today. We have to change the nation's infrastructure" Coleman said.

Coleman compared the current moment to 1955, when President Eisenhower started pushing for an interstate freeway system in order to more closely tie together the nation's diverse economy.

But a spokeswoman for likely Democratic candidate Al Franken said Coleman has had six years to push for alternative energy and is only talking about it now because of the upcoming election.

"Al's been calling for a real investment in renewable energy for two years, and Norm's been ignoring the need for six years," Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh said.

Coleman defended his record, saying he's long been an advocate of fostering alternative fuel use. But he said the importance of addressing energy costs has been driven home the last few days as he campaigned at the Minnesota State Fair. "That's the number one issue on the minds of Minnesotans," he said.

Coleman said when Congress reconvenes next month and before it adjourns for the year, lawmakers should vote to authorize Outer Contintental Shelf drilling. He said that would be the first step in securing billions for his proposed "National Energy Infrastructure Trust Fund."
The fund would be used to pay for:

-- Transmission lines to spread wind energy around the United States, with the Department of Energy directed to study how many lines would be needed to produce 20 percent of its electricity from wind.

-- Tax credit bonds to finance wind energy transmission projects.

-- A beefed up federal loan guarantee program for projects that improve the country's nuclear energy infrastructure.

-- Investment in research and development to hasten the availability of plug-in vehicles.

-- A program to ensure that drivers of E85-equipped vehicles have easy access to the ethanol-based fuel on every interstate highway in the country.

In calling for Outer Contintental Shelf drilling as a revenue source for energy projects, Coleman took a shot at Franken -- who believes such drilling is not necessary.

Rather, Franken believes oil companies should drill on offshore, U.S.-owned land where they already hold leases.

"Drill on the leases you're sitting on now," McIntosh said. "Norm's just proposing to give away more oil to the oil companies" -- a criticism that dovetails with the Franken campaign's most recent line of attack against Coleman, floated in TV and online commercials, that criticize him for taking campaign contributions from oil companies.

Franken has also spent a lot of time on the campaign trail, talking about the importance of alternative energy sources. He speaks often of an "Apollo program for renewable energy," government investment in technologies to make alternative and renewable energy more available to consumers.

McIntosh said in the coming weeks Franken plans to lay out some of his proposals in more detail. She said they would be centered around the idea of making Minnesota a national leader in renewable fuel and energy-saving technologies.

McIntosh said Franken's investments would be funded at least in part by repealing oil company tax breaks that Coleman supported in 2003 and 2005. To the 2005 energy bill, Coleman pointed out that Democrats like Barack Obama and former Minnesota senator Mark Dayton also voted in favor.

The Franken campaign has also cast doubt over whether new drilling would do much to bring down the price of gas at the pump. But Coleman said that moving ahead on numerous fronts -- more drilling, and aggressive promotion of alternative energy, would dampen the speculation on the oil market that's thought to be at least partially responsible for fuel price hikes.

But Coleman said any dips in gas prices shouldn't be license to stop pushing for alternatives. "We can't let our resolve rise and fall with the price of oil," he said.

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