Lawmakers glean ideas, reject others, from energy commission
Greenwire & Environment and Energy Daily
Dec. 9, 2004
Key players in the ever-controversial debate on U.S. energy policy greeted yesterday's wide ranging recommendations for U.S. energy policy, including a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions and more stringent automobile efficiency standards, with an equally diverse set of their own ideas.
Most lawmakers charged with bringing energy policy back to the front-burner of the legislative debate welcomed the bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy's 128-page report, but others said some of the specific concepts would have been better left on the cutting room floor.
One issue that triggered the ire of key GOP players in the energy debate concerned the issue of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Under the commission's plan, Congress should instruct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to strengthen efficiency standards no later than 2010 for cars and light trucks, while taking into account vehicle performance, safety, jobs and competitive concerns.
Larry Neal, deputy staff director for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), singled out the CAFE issue as one which ignores the market-based strategy pursued by Republicans in the House energy bills of 2003 and 2004. "The work product of a self-appointed organization that was staffed prominently by former Bill Clinton aides seems neither bipartisan nor particularly exciting," Barton said in a prepared statement. "We are concerned that shunning the market will leave us with a strategy that neither produces energy at prices that people can afford to pay nor successfully protects the environment."
Neal criticized Senate Democrats for filibustering the energy bill this year but noted that Congress is "hardly finished" with the issue headed into 2005.
On the flip side, Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) office released a statement signaling the lawmaker's interest in taking up the report's CAFE ideas. In 2003, Durbin was unsuccessful in his attempt to amend the Senate energy bill with language that would have raised CAFE standards for passenger cars to 40 miles per gallon by 2015, 60 percent above the current average of 25 mpg.
"Greater fuel inefficiency is not a technological problem, it is a problem of political will," Durbin said. "American auto manufacturers, scientists and engineers are ready to step up to the plate and produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. By supporting the recommendations of the National Commission on Energy Policy for improved fuel economy, we can be global leaders."
The report's policy recommendations include a $4 billion program over 10 years for public incentives for integrated gasification combined cycle coal technology; a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relative to economic output; updated energy efficiency standards for appliances and updated building codes to increase efficiency; support for new nuclear power plants; diplomatic efforts to increase oil production in nations with "underdeveloped" oil reserves; and an expanded global network of strategic petroleum reserves.
Other aspects of the wide-ranging report include a call for increased funds for renewable energy and renewable fuels research and production; strong incentives for the Alaska natural gas pipeline; tax incentives to auto manufacturers for production of hybrid vehicles; and new public education and other steps to spur development of liquefied natural gas infrastructure; and new tax incentives and funding for advanced energy technology research and adoption.
The report's policy ideas are designed to be "revenue neutral" -- it calls for $36 billion over 10 years in total new spending and tax incentives for steps such as energy technology research and development, but offsets these costs with revenues from greenhouse gas permit sales.
Climate change plan draws attention
A touchy subject for lawmakers centered around climate change, specifically the mandatory cap-and-trade program among economic sectors to control greenhouse gas emissions. The NCEP climate change approach in some ways blends together ideas formulated by those on Capitol Hill who argue for emissions caps, such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), with the approach of the Bush administration.
Specifically, the report calls on the U.S. government by 2010 to begin issuing permits for GHG emissions based on an annual emission target reflecting a 2.4 percent per year cut in GHG intensity. The climate program calls on Congress to revisit the program in 2015 and then again every five years to consider whether progress is being made by major U.S. trading partners and energy competitors, including developing countries such as China and India. It also suggests a "safety valve" to limit total costs on the economy by capping permit prices at $7 per metric ton of carbon dioxide.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) described as "heartening" the report's push to increase energy production and make improvements to infrastructure. But Inhofe criticized the commission for its recommendations on greenhouse gases, arguing that scientific evidence casts doubt on the "assertion" that humans are responsible for rising temperatures.
"It is unfortunate that a few extreme members of the commission were able to convince their colleagues to join them in 'doing the politically correct thing' and recommend carbon dioxide regulation," Inhofe said. "By shutting Congress out of the process in creating the study, they ignored political realities in Congress."
Commission plans lobbying campaign
Commission members, comprised of both GOP and Democratic energy experts, environmentalists, former government officials and industry, labor and academic leaders, said they had already begun meeting with lawmakers and staff to discuss the report's recommendations. Plans are for the 16-member panel to continue that lobbying campaign as lawmakers next year return with a focus on trying again to enact a comprehensive energy package either in whole or through piecemeal legislation.
Still, authors of the report said yesterday that they held little hope that their ideas would be adopted in whole by Congress or the Bush administration. "We are under no illusions that we are important enough to give anyone a take-it-or-leave-it package," said John Rowe, co-chair of the energy commission and chairman of Exelon Corp. Yet commission members also said that their work is proof that a bipartisan energy plan can be structured in such a way as to include mandatory and voluntary measures with a focus both on resource production and environmental safeguards.
Commission members yesterday briefed staff for members of the House and Senate energy committees, with more sessions planned. More broadly, an environmentalist who worked with the commission said it is remaining intact for the next year largely in order to press for enactment of the recommendations. "I think they are going to push it very aggressively. They are in business for another year to convert the recommendations into law," said Frank O'Donnell, who served as a consultant to the commission. "That's their job now."
An aide to a Democratic energy committee member said that while commissioners yesterday said they do not have a specific legislative agenda, they nonetheless appear eager to work toward enactment of their plan. "One could certainly get that flavor, that they are going to be more active than sitting around at their desks waiting for you to call them," said the aide who attended the meeting.
Commission members also say they hope the group will act as a resource for the administration and Congress.
The report does not deal with a handful of controversial items that have led to gridlock on Capitol Hill, including oil exploration and production in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and liability protection for makers of the reformulated gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether. Instead, it focuses on numerous bipartisan ideas that have been kicked around in recent years, including increased nuclear and clean coal production, as well as expanded use of tax credits for renewables.
Addressing the report in broad fashion, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said ideas on energy supply, new technologies and energy efficiency provide "fresh thinking" that can be picked up on in the 109th Congress. "The commission has given these topics careful attention and provided thoughtful recommendations on them," he said. "I believe the commission's report will be an important contribution to the future bipartisan dialogue that is essential to have in Congress on these important topics."
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), one of the most staunch proponents in Congress for clean coal technologies, said the report should provide a "major spark" for legislative progress next year. Picking up on the report's call for a multibillion dollar IGCC program, Byrd said the commission's work can "breathe new life" into the fossil fuel's future. Byrd said the report provides further grounding for lawmakers to encourage coal use not just for power generation but also for liquid fuels and chemicals.
An aide to Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said committee staff welcomed the report's recommendations on nuclear power, which includes a call for $2 billion over 10 years to fund projects for designing and licensing advanced nuclear power plants. The report notes that nuclear power generation does not emit carbon dioxide.
"We are pleased with the nuclear recommendations in the report, said Domenici spokeswoman Marnie Funk.
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