The Wrong Road for our Nation's Energy Future

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

The Wrong Road for our Nation's Energy Future

by Congresswoman Lois Capps
Santa Barbara News Press
Ventura County Star
April 20, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A quick drive past any gas station on the Central Coast reveals an all too common sight: record high gas prices. In fact, the "Today" show recently cited San Luis Obispo as having the nation's highest prices at $3.07 a gallon. High gas costs take a heavy toll on Central Coast families and businesses, driving up the cost of everything.

This week the House of Representatives will vote on comprehensive energy legislation. I would love nothing more than to tell my friends and neighbors that help is on the way. Unfortunately, the bill coming before the House puts us on the wrong road: it won't do anything to lower gas prices, and on top of that, it harms our environment while it doles out goodies for powerful special interests.

For proof of the bill's impact on gas prices, look no further than to the Bush Administration's analysis of last year's failed energy bill (this year's bill is nearly identical). The Energy Department found it would actually increase the price of gasoline - by as much as 8 cents a gallon in California! I don't think higher gas prices are what Central Coast families are expecting out of an energy bill.

The bill is also bad for our environment. The most widely known issue is the fight to drill in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. I have visited the Refuge and can speak to the sense of wonder in such an untouched environment. My visit convinced me we need to protect this national treasure, which is home to polar bears, huge herds of caribou and more than 130 species of migratory birds. The bill also weakens a host of rules that keep our water and air clean, and for that reason is opposed by virtually every environmental group in the country.

I am also deeply concerned about two provisions especially harmful to coastal communities, both having to do with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities. One turns over to the federal government all meaningful decision making power regarding siting and permitting LNG facilities on its coastline. The other seriously weakens a federal coastal protection law California has used to balance development and conservation. These two provisions would limit a coastal community's right to have a say in what gets built in its neighborhood and I have been working hard to stop them.

And one of the most egregious provisions in the bill, being pushed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, provides special protection for manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE, most of which are headquartered in Texas. Recent court cases have forced these manufacturers into multimillion dollar settlements with communities that have MTBE-contaminated groundwater. The energy bill would end these settlements and push the estimated $29 billion of cleanup costs onto taxpayers.

We've had problems with MTBE here on the Central Coast, from Cambria to Oxnard. When one of Cambria's two drinking water sources was contaminated by MTBE, the town was able to force a $9 million settlement out of Chevron, providing some of the funds to build a desalinization plant. If the energy bill was law, the people of Cambria would have had to shoulder the cost of the desal plant on their own.

I offered a package of amendments to deal with MTBE problem, which was unfortunately defeated along near party line votes when my committee considered the energy bill. I will be leading the charge to take this provision out of the bill when it comes to the House floor this week.

I have been advocating that we take a much different road with this energy bill, one that focuses more on encouraging the use of renewable energy sources and reducing our insatiable demand for energy.

For example, I voted to require power companies to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources like wind, solar or geothermal by 2020. These requirements provide a market, spur innovation and lower costs for these renewable resources. California already has similar requirements and our experience shows it works, and it's good for the environment and our economy.

We can also do a lot more to make our appliances and buildings more stingy with energy. For example, under pressure from manufacturers the Energy Department has continually delayed the issuance of new rules for higher efficiency air conditioners and other large appliances. My committee even voted to give manufacturers of ceiling fans an exception to new efficiency rules!

I also voted for amendments to require our cars and trucks to be more fuel efficient. Increasing the distance our cars and trucks can go on a tankful is the single biggest step we can take to reduce our nation's consumption of oil. Yet with the defeat of this amendment, the bill does nothing to advance that goal. We put 70 percent of our oil into our gas tanks - and much of it is imported oil increasingly coming from unstable regions or countries with uncertain futures. Reducing our demand for oil by improving gas mileage is now a critical national security issue.

Clearly, we will use fossil fuels for a long, long time and we should exploit those resources where we can do it in a responsible and environmentally sound manner. But we simply have to move to cleaner sources of energy and increase efficiency. We have 3 percent of the world's oil and gas resources, yet account for 25 percent of demand. Business as usual on energy consumption is the road to ruin.

Congress should produce an energy policy that exploits America's greatest resource - our genius. We can find ways to be much more energy efficient. We can find ways to take better advantage of renewable sources of energy. And we can be a global leader in these technologies, which we then sell around the world.

Putting our nation on this new road to energy independence would ensure that the problems of high gas prices are only a fading sight in our rear view mirrors.

Congresswoman Lois Capps is the U.S. Representative for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. She serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/ca23_capps/op050420_energybill.html