House Republicans hosted a press conference on the west steps of the Capitol Building today to tout their new energy legislation, the "American Energy Act" [PDF]. But the 50 caucus members at the gathering were outnumbered by at least 100 protesters, who booed loudly at their calls to open up protected areas for more oil and gas drilling.
As storm clouds gathered over head and members dripped sweat in the balmy D.C. heat, GOP leadership unveiled a bill that they say represents an "all of the above" energy strategy. On the House GOP website, the legislation's goals are summarized as "increase production, innovate clean & reliable energy, increase supply, and encourage efficiency."
More specifically, the bill would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration and lift the moratoriums on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and on finalizing regulations for oil-shale development. Some of the revenue from new oil and gas leases would go to create a "Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund," with "alternative" being defined broadly enough to encompass oil shale, "clean coal," and tar sands, in addition to the expected solar, wind, biomass, and the like.
The American Energy Act would permanently extend the production tax credits for wind, solar, and hydrogen (the House voted to extend the credits in May, but the extension got bogged down in the Senate in June). The bill would also create and extend tax incentives for fuel-efficient vehicles, homes, and businesses. It calls for a "cash prize" program to encourage the development of new energy technologies, to be awarded by the secretary of energy. This would include a $500 million prize to "the first automobile manufacturer incorporated in the United States to manufacture and sell in the United States 50,000 midsized sedan automobiles which operate on gasoline and can travel 100 miles per gallon."
House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and the bill's other 83 cosponsors want a vote on their legislation before the August recess. "The only thing that stands between us and this bill passing is Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat-controlled Congress," Boehner told the crowd. "Let's let Congress vote up or down on whether they think we ought to have more American-made energy."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put out a statement today saying the new bill "largely rehashes failed ideas on domestic drilling." She said that Democrats are planning a vote tomorrow on a bill that would release some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in hopes of quickly driving down oil prices.
At the press conference on the Capitol steps, folks from the National Wildlife Federation, Campus Progress, Friends of the Earth, U.S. PIRG, Environment America, The Wilderness Society, and other green groups were out in force, bearing signs that read "Save Our Shores" and "Clean Energy Now!" Others went directly after the premise that drilling would lower oil prices -- the main point the Republicans were trying to convey at the gathering -- with signs saying "Drill more: Useless." They hoped to send the message that investment in renewables shouldn't be contingent on more drilling, and that the U.S. needs to wean itself from oil. "More drugs do not help beat the addiction," said a press release from Defenders of Wildlife.
GOP Sen. Bond thinks climate policy is just too confusing
Energy industry sways Congress with misleading data
Boxer and Reid delay Senate action on climate bill until September
Comments
View as Flat
Tasermons Partner Posted 11:40 am
23 Jul 2008
Luckily there aren't enough votes to pass...
Permalink
Russ Posted 6:10 pm
23 Jul 2008
hunker in the bunker
We're only going to see more and more of this from the fossil fuel dead-enders.
The bill is of course about drilling, drilling, and drilling. It's not about increasing oil supply or lowering gasoline prices, both of which Bush's own DOE concedes will not happen. It's only about drilling for profit, straight plunder for already super-rich pirates.
As for "the expected" solar and wind, efficiency and the like, these are only mentioned as a fig leaf, to try to camouflage the bill's real intent. This intent is clear in the Orwellian melding of the terms "renewable" and "alternative" which allows them to include tar sands, filthy coal (coal will ALWAYS be filthy - CCS doesn't mitigate the nightmare of MTR), and oil shale under this rubric.
So here's the plan: destroy ANWAR and the continental shelf, take the royalties and hand them back to Big Oil and Big Coal to help subsidize the shale experiment and the CCS scam. (Of course the money in this "Trust Fund", if it ever existed at all, would be channelled to the fossil fuel "alternatives", while the true renewables would get crumbs. Never forget that this is a zero-sum game, and the winner is dictated by whoever holds the power.)
Could this bill or a similar one pass? If the stupid voters keep trending the way polls are saying, apparently believing the right's lies about drilling our way to lower gas prices (and implicitly believing, as a result of societal brainwashing, that the cheap gas car culture is the only way things can be, the way things should be, indeed that this state of things in their American birthright), and if the Democrats revert to their normal craven ways, then we are indeed likely to see policies like this. Perhaps even "bipartisan".
The saturnalia must swirl to the bitter end; the bonfire must burn all night and die only with the blizzard dawn. We burned all the firewood, we've burned almost all the furniture; all that's left are the precious paintings, and now they too must go into the flames.
Permalink
DrillNow Posted 12:34 am
24 Jul 2008
oil/food
Following the logic of the left, the next time you're hungry and the cupboards are bare, when food is to expensive for you to purchase, we of the more intelligent thoughtful conservative spectrum will tell you lefties to eat much less! Conserve and wean yourselves till you consume no food at all! Food is expensive because there is to much of a demand! And we will not grow more because it will not help right now! It wouldn't help until next harvest season if then! Of course in the next harvest season when you are even more hungry you'll be wondering why you didn't start growing more today!
You are self righteous, ignorant, confused dolts! And you will not print this.
Permalink
treestump Posted 12:55 am
24 Jul 2008
drill now pay later
sounds like someone is a little angry or maybe not. what i do know is that both sides are little touchy on this subject. on the right you have people who cant seem to change and they want their steak and potato's now. on the left we have the people who have given up their steak and are content with potato's but not with the idea that we have to wait for others to change. i on the other hand am willing to wait and take action when the time is right. you know like one of those wolf hunters all cami'd out. i am waiting to take my enviromental shot. besides who said anything about food i thought this was a blog about drilling in alaska diet choices and all we have to decide if were americans or something else. although i personally dont agree with drilling in alaska or want to see it scared-up. there is a chance that i am wrong.
flying under the radar
Permalink
TheGreenMiles Posted 1:26 am
24 Jul 2008
ha i am superier
I love trolls. You are stupid! And I bet you will not like me calling you stupid! So there!
Join the discussion on global warming, recycling, and organic beer at The Green Miles!
Permalink
treestump Posted 2:18 am
24 Jul 2008
superier say what
if your going to call someone stupid you might learn how to spell first
flying under the radar
Permalink
TheGreenMiles Posted 3:34 am
24 Jul 2008
That's so awesome
Treestump:
A) It was a joke.
B) If you're going to accuse someone of not knowing how to spell, you might learn the proper usage of your/you're.
Join the discussion on global warming, recycling, and organic beer at The Green Miles!
Permalink
treestump Posted 5:47 am
24 Jul 2008
its all good
no harm done just feeling a little sensitive as i am new to this blogging thing. dont know the rules and so on but aside from that your right about the spelling and grammer and for that what i am talking about. mostly it's my opinion based on what i read and i just kinda dig this blogging thing and the exchange of ideas did not mean any insult. my apologies if i said anything wrong.
flying under the radar
Permalink
Tasermons Partner Posted 9:45 am
24 Jul 2008
Please do so...
the next time you're hungry and the cupboards are bare, when food is to expensive for you to purchase, we of the more intelligent thoughtful conservative spectrum will tell you lefties to eat much less!
Given the amount of obesity in this country, that's what we should've been doin' a long time ago, baka!
Permalink
Hemified Posted 11:38 am
24 Jul 2008
Glen Beck ANWR
Anyone catch Glenn Beck? Pictures of the small (relative) proposed ANWR drill area looks incredibly similar to Prudhoe Bay (coastal plain wasteland). Also had some pictures of all the Moose around the wells in Prudhoe Bay. The market price of oil is reflected in Futures. Approving ANWR and coastal plain drilling will show the market that the USA is serious about increasing supply while alternative sources are being developed. Drill, Nuclear Power and build more refineries - Kum Ba Yah
Permalink
David Roberts Posted 11:53 am
24 Jul 2008
You say Glenn Beck had a picture of moose?!
Case closed!
grist.org
Permalink
Hemified Posted 12:23 pm
24 Jul 2008
moose picture?
I'm a little slow, is that a fat joke?
Permalink
kenshin Posted 2:38 pm
27 Jul 2008
sounds like the GMA at work here
every business person i talk to complains about how climate change, and our dependence on oil, esp our increasing imports of foreign oil, have ruined the economy and businesses.
apartment landlords complain how non-efficient appliances and ever increasing utilities, heat, ac, etc, are squeezing their renters to the point where they can't pay rent.
america grows so much surplus food, it aint' funny. we export a ton of it. we give it away.
the cost of food going up has nothing to do with demand, it has to do with THE PRICE OF OIL BEING OVER $150 A BARREL. that cost affects the manufacture, production, and transportation of food, and that's all going up cuz that's defendant on oil.
why don't you go and talk to the folks at the GMA about the current research on cellulosic biofuels, like alfalfa and switchgrass. read Gary Hirshbergs' book, Stirring it Up, to find out more ways in which businesses, esp food manufacturers, can SAVE SAVE SAVE money by investing in renewable fuels?
as Jeff Swartz, founder of Timberland, once said, "What idiot would leave costs on the table?" it's way more than just tree-hugging...it's profits.
Permalink
kenshin Posted 2:42 pm
27 Jul 2008
sorry, that's supposed to be a reply
to the trollish comment above.
Permalink
kenshin Posted 2:46 pm
27 Jul 2008
i guess i should also say
i was there at this event, with my son. i just absolutely loved the dog and pony show that the republicans played on this. hehe! one lie to the american public after another...it was like theater.
the look of fear in the republican's eyes, when he said "it looks like it's starting to rain out here." it was almost as if they were worried about being struck by lightning, for all the lies they just told!!!
Permalink