McCain environmental policy: it's third Bush term...

From Bloomberg:

``To his credit, McCain has made global warming a priority,'' said Gene Karpinski, president of the Washington- based League of Conservation Voters. Still, ``throughout his time in Congress, McCain's voted pro-environment only one out of four times.''

Karpinski and other environmentalists criticize McCain's positions on renewable energy, livestock-grazing practices, timber sales and funding to conserve public lands, wildlife and oceans.

In his quarter-century in Congress, McCain has demonstrated a ``pattern of voting with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet,'' said Carl Pope, executive director of the San Francisco-based Sierra Club.

McCain antagonized environmentalists by voting in 2006 to open 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling. In addition, they have clashed over McCain's support for multibillion-dollar subsidies to the nuclear industry.

Renewable Energy

He was also criticized for backing conventional uses of coal while opposing requirements for electric utilities to get more of their power from renewable energy sources.

Separately, the Arizona senator has been taken to task for his support of President George W. Bush's 2007 budget, which cut funding for conservation programs by more than $3 billion, or 10 percent.