Presidential candidate Tom Vilsack offered a plan Tuesday to ween the nation off of fossil fuels and roll back greenhouse gas emissions to a fraction of current levels.

The former Iowa governor, who has tried to get Barack Obama to debate him in an attempt to gain greater exposure, said he would force new power plants to emit no carbon dioxide — one of the greenhouse gases blamed for rising earth temperatures — by 2020.

Vilsack said as president he would cap U.S. carbon dioxide emissions and create a credit-trading program to meet the cap.

“Energy security is the single most important issue facing America today,” Vilsack said.

“It affects us every minute of every day. It affects our health, our personal finances, our economy and our quality of life.”

Among his proposals was a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gases produced by the United States by 2050, principally through a mandatory “cap and trade” program among businesses and other institutions.

President George W. Bush made a similar pledge to cap carbon emissions in his 2000 campaign, but broke it in 2001 after getting elected.

Bush continues to oppose mandatory emission caps, arguing that industry through development of new alternative energy technology can deal with the problem at a lesser cost.

We applaud Vilsack’s devotion to this monumentally important issue, but worry that his campaign will never gain the momentum needed to bring it enough attention. Anyone seen Al Gore lately?

[Cartoon above by Linda Eddy, courtesy of Iowapresidentialwatch.com. Follow the link to view many more of her creations.]