When Congress begins its new session this week, the Republican leadership is expected to quickly re-introduce essentially the same energy bill it passed in 2003 and 2004. And on January 24, Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) will convene a hearing of his Energy and Natural Resources Committee to focus on the problem of natural gas (limited supply, high price).
As always, the two chambers will have to reconcile their versions of the bill, which is likely to take several months. The two previous bills were both defeated in the Senate. The House bill, H.R. 6, will again be hotly opposed by environmental and energy conservation groups.
"The energy bill is a classic example of a legislative stocking stuffer, where Congress slipped in billions of dollars in targeted subsidies for the coal, nuclear, oil, and gas industries," U.S.PIRG energy analyst Navin Nyak told BushGreenwatch.
"Investing in clean energy policies would create thousands of new clean energy jobs, save consumers and businesses billions of dollars, and significantly reduce air pollution from power plants," added Nyak. "Instead of embracing this win-win-win situation, the Bush administration and Congress crafted an energy bill that weakens environmental protections, fails to protects consumers and throws more than $35 billion taxpayers dollars at polluting industries."
Besides the fact that the bill provides huge subsidies to the fossil fuel (greenhouse gas) industries closely tied to the Bush administration, while doing almost nothing for alternative energy or energy conservation, environmental experts oppose a laundry list of other harmful provisions likely to be carried over from last year. Among other things, the bill would:
-Exempt all oil and gas construction activities — including roads, drill pads, pipeline corridors and refineries — from having to obtain a permit controlling polluted stormwater runoff caused by construction activities, as is currently required under the Clean Water Act.
-Dramatically increase air pollution and global warming with its huge new incentives for burning coal, oil and gas.
-Threaten drinking water sources by exempting from Safe Drinking Water Act regulation the underground injection of chemicals during oil and gas development.
-Allow more smog pollution for longer than the current Clean Air Act authorizes.
-Establish an "Office of Federal Project Coordination" within the White House to expedite the permitting and completion of energy projects on federal lands and override environmental safeguards.
-Continue to promote development of all Outer Continental Shelf lands — including sensitive moratoria protected lands and, potentially, national marine sanctuaries — through two poorly defined studies.
-Repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act, the main law protecting consumers from market manipulation, fraud, and abuse in the electricity sector, even while evidence of corrupt industry behavior is front page news and ratepayers are owed billions to compensate for the industry’s illegal activities.
-Mandate the siting of a high voltage electricity transmission line through the Cleveland National Forest in southern California and other public lands, overriding a decision by the State of California rejecting such siting.
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