Issue Position: Energy/Environment

Issue Position

Renewable Energy

Congressman Lynch believes that the federal government must take an active role to reduce our energy consumption and dependence on foreign oil. For this reason, Congressman Lynch recently cosponsored and voted in favor of The Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation (CLEAN) Act of 2007 (H.R. 6), which passed the House of Representatives on January 16, 2007 by a vote of 264-163. This legislation, passed within the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress, will curb taxpayer-funded subsidies to oil and gas companies and invest these savings towards renewable and alternative energy research.

Specifically, the CLEAN Act has two major provisions that are intended to drive down the costly price of oil and point our nation in the direction of renewable sources of energy. Firstly, this legislation will remove the unnecessary tax breaks which oil and natural gas companies have enjoyed while simultaneously receiving record profits. Secondly, this measure will invest these savings in a "Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reserve" account that will be used towards the research, development, and deployment of clean renewable energy and efficiency technologies.

Gas Prices

Across the country, gas prices have soared to over $3 per gallon. Given the financial impact of rising gas prices on America's working families, Congressman Lynch believes that our government must take appropriate and immediate steps to safeguard consumers against artificially-inflated gas prices.

Specifically, Congressman Lynch supports the Energy Price Gouging Prevention Act (H.R. 1252). This legislation provides immediate relief to consumers by giving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the explicit authority to investigate and penalize those who artificially inflate the price of energy. The FTC would be empowered to exercise this authority at each stage of the energy production and distribution chain and would be able to apply this authority to oil, natural gas, home heating oil, crude oil and propane.

In order to improve fuel economy standards as well as decrease the negative effect on our environment, Congressman Lynch has also worked with his colleagues in Congress to ensure that car manufacturers increase the miles per gallon (MPG) standards of car and small truck fleets in the United States. Congressman Lynch is also supporting several important measures that will improve automotive efficiency with technology that is already being used in the European Union, parts of Asia and other nations throughout the world.

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