Newsletter - Winter  '07-'08
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President Bush Signs Energy Bill

(source: newenergy.com)

The year ended with the achievement of a major political goal on Capitol Hill:  Congress sent President George W. Bush a landmark energy bill and the president signed it into law.  The centerpieces of the legistlation is to increase car fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 30 years.  The bill also provides significant support for developing the biofuels industry and phases out incadescent light bulbs.  Overall, the legislation helps the United States reduce its reliance on foreign sources of oil as wel as the emissions that contribute to climate change.

The passage of the energy bill was a hard-fought victory.  Democrats had originally included in the bill a $22 billion tax package that, in part, would have removed tax incentives from the oil and gas industry and increased incentives for renvewable energy projects.  Anoterh controversial proposal the Democrats wanted was a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS).  The nationwide program was opposed by states without energy-producing natural resoures, who said it would increase electricity prices in their regions.  While these provisions survived in the House bill, once the Senate addressed them, the president promised to veto any bill that included them, and Senate Republicans filibustered to have them removed.

In order to get this importation legislation onto the president's desk, Senate Democrates agreed to a compromise in order to push through the vehicle measure, which raises fuel efficiency for card and light trucks by 40 percent, to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.  Once the tax and RPS provisions were excised from the bill, it received overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle, and quickly passed both houses of Congress.

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner said the energy bill is a "historic step toward ending the gas-guzzler era."  The increased fuel efficiency standard will reduce US oil consumption by 1.1 billion barrels a day by 2020, "about the same amount that we import each day from Nigeria," she said.  It also contributes to slowing down climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 190 million tons each year, about one-fourth of US emissions.  The bio-fuels measure will reduce oil use by another 1.7 million bbl/d, she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, said the passage of the energy bill represented a moment of real change.  "This is a choice between yesterday and tomorrow," she said.  "It is a national security issue, it is an economic issue, it is an environmental issue and therefore a health issue.  It is an energy issue and it is a moral issue."  In addition to addressing America's "addiction to oil", she said the fuel efficiency measure would save the average driver $700 to $1,000 a year, a total of $22 billion by 2020.