Announcing that “the time for reform
has arrived,”
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar set aside the Bush
administration’s “midnight timetable” for offshore drilling. “On Friday,
January 16, its last business day in office,” Salazar explained in his
Feburary 10th press conference, “the Bush Administration proposed a new
five year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing.” The Bush plan called
for the completion of meetings and hearings by March 23. Salazar decried
this “broken process”:
It was a headlong rush of the worst kind. It was a process rigged
to force hurried decisions based on bad information. It was a process
tilted toward the usual energy players while renewable energy
companies and the interests of American consumers and taxpayers were
overlooked.
Salazar announced he “will extend the public comment
period
by 180 days, get a report on offshore energy resources, hold regional
conferences and expedite rulemaking for offshore renewable energy
resources.”
Salazar made it clear that his definition of “energy independence” does
not mean a “drill only” future. He rebuked the “oil and gas or
nothing”
approach of the Bush administration, who ignored the Energy Policy Act
of 2005’s mandate to develop regulations for offshore renewables:
I intend to do what the Bush Administration refused to do: build a
framework for offshore renewable energy development, so that we
incorporate the great potential for wind, wave, and ocean current
energy into our offshore energy strategy. The Bush Administration was
so intent on opening new areas for oil and gas offshore that it
torpedoed offshore renewable energy efforts.
A 26-year ban on offshore oil drilling will
be dropped as part of a year-end spending bill, said House
Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey.
Eliminating the ban will allow the measure, which funds government
operations through March 6, to get through Congress and be signed into
law by President George W. Bush, Obey said.
“At least temporarily, the moratorium is lifted,” Obey told reporters.
“This next election will decide what our drilling policy is going to
be.”
The announcement was hailed by Republicans. “House Republicans have
fought for months to lift these outdated bans on American energy
production, and the capitulation by Democrats today is a big victory
for working families, seniors, and small businesses struggling with
record gasoline prices,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner, of
Ohio.
The legislation, slated for a House vote tomorrow, will also include a
$25 billion loan package for the auto industry, $23 billion in
disaster assistance, an additional $2 billion for Pell education
grants along with the annual defense, homeland security and veterans’
affairs appropriations bills.
Obey celebrated the closed process of developing the CR:
Asked if the process of has been secretive, Obey said: “You’re damn
right it has because if it’s done in the public it would never get
done.” He said he wanted to avoid his colleagues’ “pontificating” on
the content of the legislation, saying “that’s what politicians do
when this stuff is done in full view of the press.” He said, “We’ve
done this the old fashioned way by brokering agreements in order to
get things done and I make no apology for it.”
Update: The
bill also
kills the oil shale leasing moratorium.
As votes near this evening on the “all of the above” Democratic energy
package (H.R.
6899),
National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger sent a letter to
Congress
opposing the bill because it lifts the oil shale moratorium. He writes:
The public, including National Wildlife Federation’s four million
members and supporters, wants Congress to take the urgent and
necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut
oil dependency and cut global warming pollution. While we favor many
provisions in the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer
Protection Act (H.R. 6899), especially when compared to the expected
motion to recommit, we oppose the bill because of its provision
allowing commercial oil shale leasing. As a result of this provision,
the bill fails to address the fundamental challenge of avoiding
significant new increases in global warming pollution and protecting
important wildlife habitat on our public lands.
League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski issued the
following statement opposing the Republican motion to recommit:
Drilling is no longer the issue – unfortunately, both H.R. 6899 and
the motion to recommit include drilling. The issue today is whether or
not each Member of Congress will stand up for the American people or
stand with the oil industry lobbyists.
All summer, Republicans have called for an ‘All of the Above’ plan on
energy. Now, presented with a compromise that gives them everything
they’ve asked for, the Republican leadership refuses to support it.
Instead, they offer a motion to recommit, which will remove every
provision from the bill that Big Oil doesn’t like: provisions that
reduce tax breaks to Big Oil and extend them to renewable energy
companies, increase efficiency, and create the first national
renewable energy standard.
How each member votes will highlight the real differences between
those in Congress who support clean energy as central to America’s
energy future, and those who remain tied to big oil and want to keep
us stuck in the past. LCV opposes the motion
to recommit and calls on the Members of Congress who support it to
stop working for the oil companies and start working for the American
people.
Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.), Gene Green (D-Texas), George Miller
(D-Calif.), and John Dingell (D-Mich.) have unveiled the House
Democratic “all of the above” energy package, The Comprehensive American
Energy and Security, Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 6899), which lifts
the moratorium on offshore drilling and calls for massive investments in
natural gas, oil, and coal, as well ethics reform for the
MMS, support for public transit, and a suite
of energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives and standards paid
for by eliminating some oil subsidies.
Many elements are drawn from previous House bills—H.R. 5351, H.R. 3221,
H.R. 6, H.R. 4520, H.R. 6578, H.R. 6078, H.R. 6052, H.R. 6515.
At Climate
Progress,
Joe Romm reviews the full text of the draft “Gang of Ten” energy
legislation, now unofficially co-sponsored by ten Democrats and ten
Republicans. The original ten senators are conservative and
industry-friendly. Highlights of Romm’s review:
Title II makes clear that the “consumer tax credits for advanced
vehicles” is focused on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), see
Section 202 (page 17). The tax credit is “$2,500, plus $400 for each
kilowatt hour of traction battery capacity in excess of 4 kilowatt
hours” with a cap at $7,500. A midsized
PHEV might consume 0.3 to 0.4
kilowatt-hours per mile when it runs on electricity (yes, Toyota may
well do better than that, but I doubt GM will).
So a PHEV20 (one with a 20-mile range
running only on electricity) might have a battery capacity 7 kwh,
and get a $3700 tax credit. The Chevy Volt is supposed to be 40-mile
electric range and get about $6500.
Section 254 (page 114) has a geothermal heat pump tax credit up to
$2000 and Section 282 (page 168) has a 2-year accelerated
depreciation period for geothermal systems.
Title IV, Subtitle B “Coal-to-Liquid” (page 191) is a tad confusing,
but it doesn’t look to me like it’s going to jumpstart the industry,
since it requires carbon capture and storage and requires lifecycle
greenhouse gas emissions from liquid coal to be no greater than that
from conventional petroleum — a very high bar to jump.
Subtitle C “Nuclear Power” (page 203) has a bad provision that says
the Secretary of Energy “shall begin construction of a spent fuel
recycling research and development facility not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act.” Recycling is of course a
euphemism for
reprocessing.
Subtitle D “Tax Provisions” (page 218) has a short section on
enhanced oil recovery that I think is the worst provision in the
bill.
According to E&E
News, Democratic
leadership plans to unveil an “all of the above” energy package today or
tomorrow which likely has the following components:
Expansion of OCS leasing to include areas off the coasts of the
Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia, and possibly the eastern Gulf of
Mexico as well. A bipartisan Senate plan known informally as the “Gang
of 10” proposal would allow drilling in these regions no closer than
50 miles from shore. But House lawmakers and aides did not say how
close to shore their plan would allow drilling.
New revenues from oil companies. A Democratic leadership aide said
the bill may include provisions to ensure payment of royalties from
late-1990s deepwater Gulf of Mexico leases that currently allow
royalty waivers regardless of energy prices. The absence of
price-based limits on these royalty waivers could cost the Treasury as
much as $14.7 billion over 25 years, according to the Government
Accountability Office. The bill may also include the repeal of the
Section 199 tax deduction for major oil companies. This plan, past
versions of which have also frozen the deduction at 6 percent for
non-majors, raises roughly $13.6 billion over a decade, the Joint
Committee on Taxation estimated in June.
A so-called renewable electricity standard that requires utilities
to supply escalating amounts of power from sources like wind and
geothermal power. The House Democrats plan to include a standard of 15
percent by 2020, an aide said, akin to a measure the House approved
last year that did not survive negotiations with the Senate. The plan
allows roughly a fourth of the standard to be met with efficiency
measures.
Extension of renewable energy and energy efficiency tax credits.
E&E also reports that Pelosi indicated “the energy bill might include
support for automakers’ retooling to make more efficient vehicles.”
This could also be part of an economic stimulus package being prepared
or the continuing resolution to extend government spending beyond the
Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, she said.
Top House Democrats say that shortly after Congress reconvenes, they
will put on the floor a piece of legislation that will include an
expansion of offshore drilling but also a renewable electricity
mandate, energy-efficiency standards for buildings and oil industry
tax provisions.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) described the plan as “a political reverse
takedown on the Republicans,” by calling the
GOP bluff on their calls for an “All of the
Above” energy agenda. David Sandalow, an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama
(D-Ill.), told E&E News: “We’ll see whether the proponents of all of the
above can take yes for an answer.”
Renewable electricity standards, building efficiency standards, and oil
tax provisions have repeatedly passed the House over Republican
opposition, but have died in Republican filibusters in the Senate.
The legislative plan will represent a compromise from the agendas of the
various national lobbying campaigns by outside organizations:
Al Gore’s We Campaign’s call for a 100% renewable electricity standard
by 2018;
Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions For Winning the Future’s call for
expanded drilling;
T. Boone Pickens’ call for new grid development, tax incentives for
wind and solar, and subsidies for natural gas;
The coal industry’s American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s
call for increased advanced coal technology subsidies.
ACCCE
and
Pickens
each have had a significant presence at the national conventions.
On a lighter note, as Open Left’s Matt Stoller found, the people
employed by ACCCE to spread the “clean
coal” message in Denver
weren’t necessarily all up to speed.
President Bush exploited this morning’s press briefing on the “follow-up
efforts” to Hurricane Gustav to attack Congress about lifting the
offshore drilling moratorium. Stating that “what happens after the storm
passes is as important as what happens prior to the storm arriving,” he
made the declaration that “our discussion here today is about
energy.”
Bush wasn’t referring to the 1.4 million
Louisianans
who have lost power due to the storm’s destructive force, and chose not
to mention the 102 deaths caused by
Gustav.
Instead, he went on the attack:
I know that Congress has been on recess for a while, but this issue
hasn’t gone away. And, uh, this storm should not cause members of
Congress say well, we don’t need to address our energy independence.
It ought to cause the Congress to step up their need to address our
dependence on foreign oil. And one place to do so is to give us a
chance to explore in environmentally friendly ways on the Outer
Continental Shelf.
Watch it:
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough
were both floored by Bush’s decision “to use another hurricane in
Louisiana to promote offshore drilling at this point,” after he
“performed so poorly during Hurricane Katrina.”
Let’s be very clear. Number one: There’s no such thing as American
oil any more. These are multinational corporations. If you let
multinational corporations drill all this oil, they’re going to sell
it to the highest bidder, whether it’s China, or India, it doesn’t
matter. Why would we throw away America’s beauty chasing the lost
drops of oil, so multinational corporations can sell it to India and
China?
And people also got to remember, we didn’t stop this as an
environmental issue. We didn’t stop offshore drilling for the
duckies and the fishies. We stopped it because coastline communities
were suffering. Because the property owners, the children who live
in those coastline communities – not when there were oil spills – but
every day, when your child goes out to swim, he comes back covered in
oil, you have to use gasoline to get the oil off your child. That was
happening coast to coast
22 members of the US House of Representatives have introduced the
National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act that
would lift many restrictions on offshore oil drilling, while providing a
projected $2.6 trillion in lease and royalty payments that would
generate $390 million for a Renewable Energy Reserve Act. The bill
introduced by 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans would open up all
protected Outer Continental Shelf lands and end the oil shale leasing
moratorium. The bill is in sharp contravention of Democratic leadership
but in line with Republican demands.
The leaders of the effort were John Peterson, R-Pa.; Neil Abercrombie,
D-Hawaii; Thelma Drake, R-Va.; Tim Walz, D-Minn.; Jim Costa, D-Calif.;
and Dan Burton, R-Ind.
A group of ten senators is working on a similar plan. “There’s going to
be substantially more drilling and substantially more conservation,”
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) said of the Senate plan.
The House bill includes:
Ending moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, and oil
shale lease sales: funds apportioned 30% to general treasury, 30% to
states, 8% to conservation, 10% to environmental restoration, 15% to
renewable energy, 5% to CCS/nuclear waste,
2% to LIHEAP
6-year extension of renewable energy/energy efficiency tax credits
Drawdown of light grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve, with $100 million going into
LIHEAP, $60 million for university research,
$15 million for wind research, $30 million for solar research, $30
million for hydro research, $40 million for automotive research, $110
million for industrial emissions research, $70 million for building
efficiency R&D, $30 million for geothermal R&D, $30 million for smart
grid R&D, $385 million for CCS R&D, $65
million for natural gas extraction research, $5 million for a hydrogen
prize, $100 million for battery research
Today at 2 PM, the entire House GOP caucus is
holding a Capitol rally to support their drill-drill-drill bill, dubbed
the “American Energy Act” (H.R.
6566) and
being promoted as an “all of the above” approach to energy policy. Their
memo, acquired by the Wonk Room, reveals their
plans
to promote the bill as a panacea for high gas prices.
As Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Daniel Weiss points
out,
however, the House GOP is pushing a number of
misleading or false talking points. In particular, they grossly
overestimate the expected returns on drilling offshore, opening the
Arctic Refuge, or mining oil shale—and fail to mention that any such
returns would only be noticeable in decades.
Announcing that “the time for reform
has arrived,”
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar set aside the Bush
administration’s “midnight timetable” for offshore drilling. “On Friday,
January 16, its last business day in office,” Salazar explained in his
Feburary 10th press conference, “the Bush Administration proposed a new
five year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing.” The Bush plan called
for the completion of meetings and hearings by March 23. Salazar decried
this “broken process”: