Remember the uproar ... secret meetings of V P Cheney’s energy commission?

[SoCalDem]

http://montanaforum.com/rednews/2003/11/02/build/energy/bill-oped.php?nnn=1


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Editorial: Energy policy needs balance
Billings Gazette Opinion

The debate over national energy policy is usually cast as a polarized battle between environmentalists and developers. It’s time to move to middle ground. We can’t conserve our way out of an energy crisis. We can’t drill our way out either.


As of last week, GOP congressional leaders had yet to reveal their final draft of a conference energy bill. Remember the uproar over the secret meetings of Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy commission? Well, more recently, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Sen. Peter Domenici, R-N.M., have been holding private meetings to craft the conference energy bill. More than two dozen House and Senate conferees were appointed to the committee, but most of them aren’t in the room where the majority of energy bill decisions are being made.


Uncertain outcome
No one seems to know what all will be in the final energy bill. It can contain just about anything that the GOP leadership wants to put into it. When senators and representatives vote, they will have to vote for or against the whole bill. There won’t be any tinkering with parts, adding or deleting sections.


What might be slipped into the energy bill?

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Tax incentives should be used to reward industry and individuals for responsible energy production and use.


For example, subsidies for coalbed methane drilling in Montana and Wyoming (which Baucus, Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin and Sen. Craig Thomas back) ought to require production methods that prevent impairment to water and land. Energy policy decisions should be made in public with bipartisan participation. Tax breaks should be balanced between domestic development and conservation/alternate energy measures. Tax breaks must reward good environmental stewardship. Americans don’t have to choose between agriculture and energy development or between electricity production and clean air. In the 21st century, we have technology to achieve responsible development.


Sunday, November 2, 2003


—Billings Gazette Editorial