Hill Heat

A coalition of 16 environmental organizations (and the League of Women Voters) is sending a joint letter to U.S. Senators indicating a joint position on the Baucus-Grassley tax extenders package (H.R. 6049). They write:

On behalf of our millions of members and activists, we urge Congress to pass the clean energy tax incentives included in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 and strip the bill of incentives for dirty fossil fuels. Congress should take this opportunity to promote a new energy economy and begin the fight against global warming, and not reward the big oil and dirty coal industries.

The organizations are the Alaska Wilderness League, Audubon, the Center for International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, the Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters of the United States, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, The Wilderness Society, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The National Wildlife Federation, because of the “sweeping new federal subsidies for oil shale, tar sands and liquid coal refining,” “dirty fuels that will dramatically increase global warming pollution and threaten millions of acres of wildlife habitat,” is sending a letter in unambiguous opposition to Baucus-Grassley.

The text of both letters is after the jump.

The omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2764) wending its way to passage in the year-end Congressional rush.

As EE News reports, included in the bill are $18.5 billion in nuclear loan guarantees that have been championed by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Related provisions grant $6 billion for coal-based power generation and industrial gasification activities at retrofitted and new facilities that incorporate carbon capture and sequestration; $2 billion for advanced coal gasification; $10 billion for renewable and/or energy efficient systems and manufactoring and distributed energy generation, transmission and distribution; and $2 billion for uranium enrichment technology.

The loan guarantees come with the caveat that Congressional appropriators must approve any project implementation 45 days before the Department of Energy could activate the guarantee.

Funding for continuing nuclear programs includes $1.1 billion for DOE’s nuclear programs and $8.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Environmental groups have come out strongly against the nuclear and coal-to-liquids provisions. NRDC’s Heather Taylor told EE News, “The loan guarantee is certainly a poison pill for us. It’s an investment in the bad policies of the past.

In a joint letter to Congress, seventeen environmental organizations wrote:

On behalf of our millions of members and activists, we regretfully ask you to vote no on H.R. 2764, the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008) because it would take America down a dirty energy path. Although Congress started with the promise of leading our country into a new energy future, H.R. 2764 breaks faith and continues the misguided, polluting policies of the past.

The nomination of Stephen J. Isakowitz to be the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Energy. The draft of an original bill drawn from the text of bills: S. 731, S.962, S. 987, and S. 1115.

CQ:

A tenuous agreement to delay action on divisive issues blew up Wednesday as a Senate panel marked up its first major energy legislation of the year.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee had agreed not to consider amendments on coal and renewable electricity. But the deal fell apart when Republicans forced a vote on an amendment by Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., to create a new mandate for coal-based transportation fuels.

Democrats tightened ranks — despite the fact that many support “coal to liquids” technology — and defeated the amendment 11-12 in a party-line vote.

The panel went on to adopt, 15-8, an amendment by Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would make various industrial facilities — including coal-to-liquids facilities — eligible for a 50-50 cost share program that would help pay for projects that capture the resulting greenhouses gases and store them underground.

The deal between Bingaman and ranking Republican Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico was intended to save controversial amendments for the Senate floor debate on the legislation. The underlying bill, which is still unnumbered, includes language from four measures that would address biofuels (S 987), energy efficiency (S 1115) and carbon sequestration technologies (S 962, S 731).

Although Republicans broke what one Democratic aide called a “ceasefire,” Democratic committee aides said Bingaman plans to keep his end of the bargain and withhold his amendment to create a “renewable portfolio standard” until the bill moves to the floor. That language would require utilities to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Thomas and Jim Bunning, R-Ky., plan to bring their proposal to boost coal-to-liquids technology to the floor as well.

The committee also adopted by voice vote 22 minor amendments that had been cleared with staff on both sides of the aisle in advance.

02/05/2007 at 10:00AM