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Report Card Sets Stage as Environmentalists Oppose Senate Energy Bill
Initially crafted as a moderate approach with something for labor, industry, conservation and other interests, U.S. Senate
energy legislation appears headed for trouble as opposition to the bill mounts. A series of controversial amendments stripped out key environmental provisions leaving the Senate proposal aligned most closely to the Bush Administration Energy Plan
, say conservationists.
National environmental organizations late last month released a report card detailing critical votes on amendments to the energy bill. The report, Failing Grades: How the Senate Energy Bill Fails to Secure a New Energy Future, was released by U.S. Public Interest Research Group
, Sierra Club
, Natural Resources Defense Council
and Defenders of Wildlife
during the spring recess. The report grades Senators on five specific votes and details other anti-environmental amendments approved during the first three weeks of debate. The report also outlines amendments anticipated for vote when the Senate returns in April.
The original bill included a provision to increase car and light truck fuel efficiency from 27.5 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon over 11 years. An amendment offered by Midwest
senators removed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE
) provision. The vote was 62-38 in favor, with Washington Senators Murray
and Cantwell
, and Oregon Senators Wyden
, and Smith
all voting against the amendment. Another amendment froze CAFE standards for light trucks and created a loophole that allows auto makers to avoid the tougher standard for cars. The amendment passed with Senators Murray, Cantwell and Wyden voting against the provision.
Renewable energy took center stage following the fuel efficiency debate. The original bill included a Renewable Portfolio Standard
(RPS
) that would have required 10 percent of U.S. electricity supplies to come from non-hydro renewable energy resources by 2020. Incremental additions to existing hydroelectric facilities, however, would have received credit as a renewable resource. The original bill also exempted small utilities, hence most of the Northwest’s consumer-owned utilities, from the standard. Senators Murray, Cantwell, Wyden and Montana’s Baucus
all supported an amendment to increase the renewable energy standard from 10 percent to 20 percent. The amendment failed.
Senator Smith joined other delegation members in voting down an amendment to strike the renewable standard from the bill entirely. In the end, compromises diluted the 10 percent RPS enough that analysts predict it would achieve just 5 to 7 percent. The Northwest is on track to surpass the weakened standard, rendering the provision meaningless for the region’s utilities.
In addition to the three votes listed above, the report evaluated a vote on an amendment to extend federal nuclear liability protection (Price-Anderson Act
) to new nuclear power plants. Senators Wyden and Baucus opposed the amendment. The final grade looked at how Senators voted on an amendment to loosen Safe Drinking Water Act
requirements in order to expand oil and gas exploration using a technique called hydraulic fracturing to extract coalbed methane. Senators Cantwell and Murray opposed the amendment.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
looms as the most contentious issue yet to be voted on in the energy debate. Proponents of keeping the Arctic off limits to energy exploration expect to prevent any amendments to add drilling.
The energy bill’s tax provisions have yet to be added, but Senator Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee
, expects to offer an incentive package totaling $16 billion. The tax amendment would include $6.8 billion (42 percent of the total) in benefits for energy efficiency and renewables. About 47 percent, or $7.5 billion, would support coal, oil, gas and nuclear energy resources.
If the environmental scorecard is any indication, exclusion of Arctic drilling and protection of clean energy tax incentives will not be enough to prevent opposition from conservation groups.
—
Nancy Hirsh