12 August 2008
Candidates Bring Differing Views of Future to Minnesota Campaign
1st District’s Davis, Walz discuss energy, agriculture, aid
Rochester, Minnesota -- The leading candidates competing to represent Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District in Washington are traveling throughout the state’s southern region, highlighting their differing views of the direction America should take.
Brian Davis, the Republican-endorsed congressional candidate, and incumbent Tim Walz, endorsed by the Democrats, are crisscrossing the 500-kilometer-wide district speaking at country fairs, restaurants and community gatherings on a variety of issues including America’s energy crisis, agricultural policy, trade and foreign aid.
Davis also faces a September primary challenge from Republican state Senator Dick Day.
Davis wants to allow oil drilling off U.S. shores and in the Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge. He said many countries, like Norway, allow offshore drilling with rigs at safe distances from coastlines.
He said the world’s growing demand for oil, especially from China where one-fifth of the world’s population lives, requires oil companies to meet the demands of the market.
A trained nuclear engineer as well as a practicing physician, Davis said the United States should develop nuclear energy and tap more of its coal resources. Energy-producing technologies have improved to such a degree over the past years that “it is possible to have growth and protect the environment” using these energy sources, Davis told America.gov.
In Congress, Walz is part of the bipartisan House Energy Working Group formed in early July. The group introduced an energy bill that calls for releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, expanding offshore drilling, repealing limitations on the number of new hybrid vehicles eligible for tax credits and authorizing funding for renewable energy research and energy conservation. “That will allow us to speed up the development of next-generation renewable fuels,” Walz said in a July 29 press statement.
In early 2008, Walz helped secure federal funding for a biofuel research center at Minnesota State University in Mankato, the congressman’s hometown.
Davis also discussed global warming with America.gov. Many southern Minnesota voters are concerned about the issue. He said there is evidence of just a slight amount of warming that is caused by human activity.
The candidate from Rochester also said he does not believe carbon dioxide should be considered a pollutant and that laws limiting carbon dioxide emissions would hurt economic growth.
Davis opposes a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions, in which polluters are allowed to emit only a certain amount of carbon dioxide but can purchase extra pollution credits from less-polluting companies. Instead, Davis said, the United States should make clean energy technologies available to other countries to help them protect the environment.
Both candidates support Minnesota agriculture. Walz in early 2008 supported a new, multiyear farm bill with increased funding for agricultural research, incentives for new farmers and rural development.
Davis said agriculture is an important export industry and that U.S. farmers need more access to global markets. He said that while visiting the annual August Farm Fest gathering in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, he heard concerns from southern Minnesota farmers about rising production costs, from the price of fuel to operate farm machinery to the costs of complying with state and federal regulations.
Davis said tax policy should be adjusted to recognize that farmers’ rising costs are offsetting rising land values.
On foreign aid, Davis said private charities should play a more important role while the federal government works to meet domestic needs and balance its budget.
Walz, who visited Afghanistan with a congressional delegation in January, said he is concerned that reconstruction efforts in that country are stalling. He called for more State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development personnel to work on development in Afghanistan.
This article is part of America.gov’s continuing coverage during the 2008 campaign of seven of the 435 U.S. congressional districts. Each district offers a different prism though which to view U.S. politics. For more information, see U.S Elections - State and Local.
