Appointment of Conferees on H.R. 6, Energy Policy Act of 2005
APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 6, ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 13, 2005)
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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the motion to instruct. I commend the Congresswoman for her extraordinary leadership, for working to protect communities from MTBE and from unfunded mandates that shift of cost of clean-up to communities without the funding to match.
For 5 years, Republicans have pushed policies to give billions of dollars to special interests which then reaped record profits. Republicans are not listening to the American people's concerns about the need for save drinking water, clean air, or for lowering the price at the pump of gasoline.
Instead of siding with the Americans strangled by high gas prices, President Bush's own Department of Energy said that the energy bill would actually raise gas prices, and that the President's proposals would increase our foreign oil dependance by 85 percent.
But nowhere is Republican pandering more on display than in the provisions relating to MTBE. Mr. Speaker, as you probably know, a few drops of MTBE can poison whole drinking water supplies. The industry knew that MTBE would leak from gasoline storage tanks when they lobbied for its use.
They deliberately hid this fact from Congress. The result of their malfeasance is clear: MTBE contaminated groundwater in every single State in America with estimated clean-up costs between $25 and $85 billion.
Incredibly, instead again of siding with communities poisoned by MTBE, House Republicans lined up to protect polluters from liability. Last year, the Majority Leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) added language to the energy bill to protect MTBE polluters knowing it would kill the legislation and he did the same this year.
The House-passed bill protects MTBE producers form lawsuits. By their actions, House Republicans imposed an unfunded mandate on local communities to protect polluters. This is contrary to a fundamental principle that in our society polluters must pay for the damage they cause, not our children with their health.
The Republicans said to localities, not only will we protect the people who poisoned your water, but we are going to leave you with the bill.
Mr. Speaker, we are spending our time debating yet another huge subsidy for profitable oil and gas companies at taxpayer's expense, when we should be focusing on what consumers want, clean water to drink and relief from high prices at the pump.
This is a disgrace. Conferees should insist on the Senate version that excludes this shameful MTBE liability waiver. Only then can we reaffirm our commitment to strengthening community by promoting a clean and healthy environment where polluters pay again for the damage they cause, not our children with their health.
Again, I thank the gentlewoman from California, (Mrs. Capps) for seizing this opportunity as she did when the House first considered this legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote for the motion to instruct so that we can end this disgraceful giveaway to oil companies and MTBE polluters that poison water all across the country.
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