House Passes Omnibus Energy Package
“While I am very pleased that the Science Committee portion of the energy package made it through the House I was unable in good conscience to vote for the entire package.” - House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert
Before leaving for August recess, the House on August 1 voted 240-189 to pass an omnibus energy bill incorporating many aspects of President Bush’s National Energy Policy. The bill, H.R. 4, is a consolidation of several pieces of legislation produced by different committees, and contains provisions addressing domestic energy production, energy R&D, tax incentives, and conservation. It would also set authorization levels for many DOE programs, including the Office of Science.
While pleased that portions of the legislation under his committee’s jurisdiction (originally passed by the Science Committee as H.R. 2460) were retained in the final bill, Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) opposed other provisions of the omnibus bill, including one to allow oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
“The bill contained many good proposals such as encouraging the use of alternative fuel vehicles and increasing investment in renewable energy technologies,” Boehlert stated in a press release following passage of H.R. 4. “Unfortunately, this bill also contained many proposals, such as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that are short-sighed, environmentally damaging and questionable, at best, in terms of actual benefit that can be derived from them.”
“As of now, H.R. 4 is skewed far too heavily toward production-much more so than was the President’s energy plan,” Boehlert announced during the floor debate. “The bill includes new subsidies and regulatory relief for the oil, gas and coal industries without requiring any commensurate improvement in environmental performance. No one doubts that we need to increase our energy supply, but these subsidies go far beyond what is necessary.... Still, I could support these provisions of H.R. 4 if they were part of an overall package that was balanced - that ensured that we were doing all we could to conserve energy and protect the environment. That’s the approach we took in the Science Committee when we unanimously passed...a section of the bill that gives great emphasis to conservation and renewable energy, while continuing support for research on oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy. For the rest of the bill to reflect that kind of balance, we must raise CAFE [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards and prevent drilling in ANWR.”
He urged support for amendments - which ultimately failed - to significantly increase fuel economy standards, and to preserve the ban on gas and oil exploration in ANWR. To appease the concerns many Members had about opening ANWR to drilling, amendments were passed on the floor to limit the oil production sites there to no more than 2,000 acres, and to devote 50 percent of the royalties to maintenance of federal lands and research into renewable energy. “This is a very clever, well-crafted attempt to give people cover to say they oppose drilling when they do not,” Boehlert commented, according to Congressional Quarterly.
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, supports increased CAFE standards and opposes oil exploration in ANWR, as do many other Senate Democrats. His committee began working on its version of the energy package before the recess, and will return to it during the week of September 10. The Senate bill is expected to authorize significantly more money than does the House for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and conservation. Bingaman also plans to address global climate change policy and energy deregulation, two issues bypassed by the House.
“I am hopeful and optimistic,” Boehlert said during the House debate, “that the Senate will soon begin working on an energy package and that...we will be able to come to a consensus on a long-term plan that provides for all of America’s energy needs without doing more harm than good to the environment.” Details of the House bill relating to DOE’s Office of Science will be reported in FYI #105 .
