This is how OUTRAGEOUS the Energy Bill is!!

[G_j]

April 22, 2005

U.S. House Approves Regressive Energy Bill

By a vote of 249 to 183, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday
approved the omnibus energy bill (H.R. 6, "The Energy Policy Act of
2005"), which included over $8 billion in energy tax breaks, the vast
majority of which will go to the polluting fossil fuel and nuclear
industries.

Prior to approval of the bill, the House voted down several amendments
to strike some of the most controversial language in the bill, including
a measure giving legal protections to manufactures of a fuel additive,
MTBE, that has polluted groundwater. The House also opposed an
amendment to strip language would allow the federal government to trump
local and state governments in the siting of liquified natural gas (LNG)
import facilities. Efforts to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR) from oil and gas exploration were also defeated. "AMENDMENTS" section below to see how your representative voted on these
and other items.]

To see how your representative voted on H.R. 6, go here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll132.xml

Energy legislation will be taken up by the Senate in May. If the
Senate approves an energy bill, its version will be reconciled with the
House version in a conference committee, after which a common bill will
be voted on by each house of Congress. CALL YOUR SENATORS and urge them
to oppose any legislation similar to the House energy bill. your senators via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121]

==========

BACKGROUND ON H.R. 6
Despite the myriad reasons that this bill was rejected previously, the
recently-passed bill is composed of more of the same bad policies that
support the fossil fuel and nuclear industries -- plus some new harmful
provisions -- with even fewer policies that would promote renewable
energy, energy efficiency, conservation, and improved automobile fuel
economy.

This backwards, misguided, industry-designed bill includes the
following provisions:

* Repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), a vital
protection for consumers of electricity, which would allow for the
expansion of deregulation and more Enron-style schemes
* Limits the ability of states to have adequate jurisdiction over the
permitting and siting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, which
are extremely volatile and dangerous
* Gives a liability waiver to the producers of MTBE, a gasoline
oxygenate and known groundwater polluter, and shifts the cost of cleanup
to taxpayers
* Opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas
exploration
* Authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Power 2010
program to spur the development of new nuclear power plants, and its
Generation IV program to develop new reactor designs, through a
government-industry "cost sharing" schemes
* Authorized over $2 billion for research and development into nuclear
power generation and risky waste reprocessing
* Authorizes $1.1 billion for a nuclear-hydrogen cogeneration project
to create hydrogen fuel using nuclear power, a travesty of clean energy
goals
* Extends liability protections for nuclear plant operators through the
reauthorization of the Price-Anderson Act, covering reactors licensed
for the next 20 years

==========
==========

AMENDMENTS

The following amendments and motions would have stricken some of the
most egregious regressive measures in H.R. 6:

MTBE
Rep. Lois Capps' motion to strike a measure giving legal protections to
manufactures of the fuel additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl-ether)
that has polluted groundwater. Capps asserted that the measure amounted
to an "unfunded mandate" because it would require states and local
governments to clean up MTBE pollution. Failed 213-219:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll129.xml

LNG
Rep. Michael Castle's amendment to strike language in the bill that
"would preempt the authority of state and local governments to ensure
that liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities are sited in areas where
they do not pose a threat to public safety." Failed 194-237:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll131.xml

ANWR
Rep. Edward Markey's amendment to "strike the provisions that will
allow oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
Failed 200-231:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll122.xml

REVENUE FROM OIL DRILLING ROYALTIES
Rep. Raul Grijalva's amendment "to strike section 2005 which requires
the Secretary of the Interior to suspend the collection of royalty
payments to the Treasury for offshore oil and gas production on the OCS
in the Gulf of Mexico." Failed 203-227:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll128.xml

==========

The following progressive amendments were rejected:

FEDERAL POWER ACT
Rep. John Dingell's amendment to "increase penalties for violations of
the Federal Power Act and authorize the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to refund electricity overcharges." Also maintains the
Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) and "directs the SEC to
review utility holding companies' status under PUHCA to prevent them
from wrongly claiming exemptions." Failed 188-243:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll123.xml

FUEL ECONOMY
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert's amendment "to direct the Secretary of
Transportation to increase fuel economy standards from today's average
of 25 miles/gallon to 33 miles/gallon over 10 years." Failed 177-254:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll121.xml

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Rep. Timothy Bishop's amendment to "reduce dependence on nonrenewable
energy sources." Failed 170-259:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll118.xml

CONSERVATION
Rep. Henry Waxman's amendment to "require the Administration to take
'voluntary, regulatory, and other actions' to reduce oil demand in the
U.S. by 1 million barrels per day from projected levels by 2013."
Failed 166-262:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll117.xml

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Rep. Alcee Hastings' amendment "to expand the definition of
environmental justice; to direct each Federal Agency to establish an
office of environmental justice; to reestablish the interagency Federal
Working Group on Environmental Justice; and to require that Executive
Order 12898 remain in force until changed by law." Failed 185-243:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll130.xml

**********

[gizmo1979]

1. Yes it's aload of crap.

I don't see how it does anything to help with the consumption of oil products.What really kills me is dems did'nt get one thing into the bill.Usually they at least throw the dog a bone.Not in this beast this is the usual cram it down our throats repug bill.

[SangamonTaylor]

5. while I think the bill is seriously lacking in many places (no CO2 trading

...no CO2 trading, no new fuel efficiency standards, more giveaways to biofuel), I think that it is a fairly good bill.

At least they are finally mandating Electric Reliability Organizations, requiring natural gas price transparency rules from FERC, and clarifying and increasing penalties for electricity market manipulation. Also, it requires FERC to promulgate rules that would mandate natural gas pricing information (which will hopefully add transparency to the market and increase confidence in the market).

The R&D appropriations are also a step in the right direction. PUHCA is completely outdated and should be eliminated.

My biggest complaint is the eliminating of Deep Sea Gulf of Mexico royalties...thats a give-away like never before! I mean, the producers are already all over Deep Sea GoM...no reason to just give away the farm! I also don't like 'opening' ANWR. However, I am confident that with local support and proper safety measures they will be able to preserve the wild-life. (-For full disclosure...I personally know a BP attorney and she is a very good people who cares for the environment).

MTBE is a crumby situation, but in reality, when amending the Clean Air Act, at the time there were only two options for fuel additives: ethanol and MTBE. Ethanol is impossible to transport. Congress ratified the producers actions (there still remains, however, the concern that the MTBE producers knew of the risks of MTBE and did nothing to prevent its production).

Why are people upset about nuclear/hydrogen cogeneration plants?!?! That's the future! No carbon dioxide emissions. Which would you prefer, greenhouse gases or nuclear waste? I'll take nuclear waste any day! Heck, with new French and South African (pebble bed) technology, we're able to recycle that waste like never before!

BTW, Sheila Jackson Lee (my representative) got an amendment to "earmark $5 million annually for bioenergy training and education targeted to minority and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers."

Overall, I'm really most upset about the 'token' efficiency and conservation measures. Sure, reducing energy consumption for all federal buildings by 20% in the next 10 years sounds great and all...but it's not going to change our culture. We also NEED to develop a Carbon Dioxide trading scheme! We NEED better automobile efficiency standards (and get rid of CAFE standards and their 'fleet averages' that create the BIGCAR/small car problem). I've always felt that biofuels are more of a pork giveaway, and never really supported it that much, but I guess we can subsidize the farmers. It's just not a real national solution (due to transportation problems).

[cornermouse]

2. The huge profits they have been raking in are not enough.

They gotta have more.

[Karenina]

3. PLUS, they get "absolved"

of the "sin" of POLLUTING the entire country with MTBE...
Theocracy, doncha love it?

[Just Me]

4. Thank you. My brain shut down last night.

I was just swimming in shock. The bill is so full of poison: liability protections for energy corps, allowances for toxicity in our air and water, lots of money shoveled to the corporateers, total authorization to legally abuse the American people, authority to produce a LOT more of that shit used in nuclear weapons,...

I'd rename the bill, "Advancing Toxic & Poison for Profit".

It's just,...beyond my capacity to digest. If people even partially grasped just a portion of the destructiveness this bill proposes, they would freak-out. It's horrifying,...truly horrifying,...and forces me to ask why it's proponents are so wrapped up in their love of money that they are willing to destroy the very constituents who vote for them,...willing to destroy the American people?

I just do not understand such people. I suppose I should be grateful to lack the capacity to understand such a willingness to engage in that level of destructive behavior towards my fellow human being.

[G_j]

6. these folks

make me think of Orcs.

but seriously, their are ZERO excuses for any Dem (or Republican for that matter) to vote for this.

[G_j]

7. kick