Statement by Hon. George Miller (D-CA) on Energy Legislation Being Debated Today in Congress

President Bush said today that he can’t “wave a magic wand” to bring down the price of gas. That’s true. But that’s not the real story. The fact is that for four years and now again this year he has done nothing to reduce the amount of gas and other energy sources Americans consume in their daily lives. And that’s a costly shame.

There are many steps we could have taken, and could take today, to improve energy efficiency, reduce consumer costs, improve environmental quality, and stimulate the economy.

Increasing automobile fuel-efficiency, investing in clean sources of energy, and improving overall energy efficiency are steps that stimulate new technological developments, create jobs, protect the environment, and reduce our foreign trade deficit.

President Bush could wave a magic wand and get those steps started today. But he will not do that. And this Congress appears that it will not do that either.

Instead, the House of Representatives is continuing the ‘smog and clog’ status quo – a stalled highway spending bill, and today nothing to reduce gas prices or gas consumption, and nothing to clean up the environment.

The Bush Administration itself admits major problems with the Republican energy bill, H.R. 6, being debated today:

· the federal Energy Information Administration has shown that gas prices will increase if H.R. 6 is passed;

· the EIA also calculates that the need for imported oil will increase by 75% under this bill;

· Interior Secretary Gale Norton has said that the bill would do little to enhance overall domestic oil and gas production.

Instead of looking to the future, the House Republican energy bill:

· completely shields MTBE producers from product liability lawsuits, at the request of Majority Leader Tom DeLay, forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab to clean up contaminated groundwater in California and elsewhere;

· fails to protect electricity consumers from Enron-style fraud and abuse;

· fundamentally rewrites the National Environmental Policy Act to limit what information on energy projects is presented to the public for review and comment;

· limits coastal states' rights to be fully involved in the process of protecting their coastlines from federally-approved offshore natural gas facilities. It also includes a backdoor attempt to undo two decades of bipartisan moratoria on offshore drilling in California;

· does not improve automotive fuel efficiency, even though the world’s major automakers have determined that these improvements are possible in Canada.

On top of all that, this bill is extraordinarily expensive: Taxpayers for Common Sense has counted almost $90 billion dollars in costs over the next ten years.

And like the other major issues the Republican leadership in the House brings up – Social Security privatization, the Medicare bill, the tax cuts, and the Iraq war – the costs of this energy bill will continue to mount long into the future. The bulk of the deficit burden will be borne by future taxpayers – our children and grandchildren.

The most controversial provision in this bill, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, will do virtually nothing to reduce U.S. demand for foreign oil, even at peak production twenty years from now.

At a time when energy companies are registering record profits, this bill doles out to them literally billions more in taxpayer credits, but does almost nothing to invest in clean sources of energy – 93% of these handouts go to traditional energy sources, like the oil and gas industry. At a time of record gas prices and record budget deficits, we need to be investing in the future, not providing additional subsidies to companies who don’t need the taxpayers’ additional help.

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energyandenvironment fuel efficiency gas prices global warming natural resources oil taxes

Posted by Intern, CA07 at 06:52PM | | Comments ()

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