Simpson/Otter Support Energy Bill

Press Release
July 28, 2005

SIMPSON/OTTER SUPPORT ENERGY BILL

Washington, D.C. - Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson and C.L. "Butch" Otter voted with the 275-176 majority on Thursday for final House approval of a plan for making energy more affordable and environmentally friendly, and America more secure and prosperous.

The Energy Policy Act, H.R. 6, represents a collaborative effort by House and Senate conferees to end more than 12 years of America lacking a comprehensive plan for our energy future. The result is a balanced, bipartisan bill that will lower energy prices for consumers, spur our economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, while taking unprecedented steps to promote greater energy conservation and efficiency.

"This is a bill that should be welcomed by anybody who's out of work because their employer couldn't afford the energy costs to keep them on the job, anybody who still has a job but has to tighten their belt a little more to pay the high cost of gas to keep getting to work, anybody who cares how much our dependence on foreign energy leaves us vulnerable to economic blackmail, and anybody who wants a better, cleaner and safer future for their children and grandchildren," said Congressman Otter, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that played the key role in crafting the legislation. "I'm eager for the Senate to follow our lead and the President to sign it into law. We all will be better off."

"Our nation desperately needs a new approach to energy security and I am thrilled that with the passage of this bill, the Idaho National Laboratory will be leading the way," said Congressman Simpson, a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. "This bill will breathe new life into our nation's nuclear energy industry, encourage the construction of new ethanol plants, accelerate promising hydrogen fuel technology, and help weaken the grip OPEC has on our economy. It represents the initial steps toward our long-term goal of energy independence."

The Energy Policy Act:
- Encourages more nuclear and hydropower production by authorizing the Department of Energy to develop accelerated programs for the production and supply of electricity; setting the stage for the lengthy process of building new nuclear reactors by reauthorizing Price Anderson; and improving current procedures for hydroelectric project licensing. The Idaho National Laboratory will be a focus of expanded nuclear reactor and hydrogen fuel cell research.
- Addresses rising gasoline prices and our dependency on foreign oil. Encourages more domestic production of oil with incentives such as a streamlined permit process; promotes a greater refining capacity to bring more oil to market; and increases the gasoline supply by stopping the proliferation of expensive regional boutique fuels. To scale back demand for oil, the proposal encourages vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells and increases funding for Department of Transportation work to improve fuel-efficiency standards.
- Extends Daylight Saving Time by four weeks to reduce energy consumption by the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil for each day of the extension. Studies indicate that the proposal to adopt Daylight Savings Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November also will lower crime and traffic fatalities and allow for more recreation time and increased economic activity.
- Deters unfair foreign competition from undermining U.S. energy security. The bill delays the government's Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) from reviewing sensitive international energy mergers, such as the active bid for Unocal by the Chinese National Overseas Oil Company - an entity 70-percent owned by the communist Chinese government - for 120 days to allow for a review by the Departments of Defense, Energy and Homeland Security. The assessment would examine the proposed deal's impact on U.S. energy security and whether or not an American company would be allowed to make such an acquisition in the foreign company's host country. CFIUS would also be required to wait three weeks after completion of the study before it can make recommendations to the president the international merger at issue.
- Boosts production of clean natural gas to help alleviate soaring prices for the environmentally friendly fuel. Specifically, the bill breaks the bureaucratic logjam that has stymied work on approximately 40 liquefied natural gas facilities nationwide.
- Improves our nation's electricity transmission capacity and reliability to prevent future blackouts through the adoption of reliability standards, incentives for transmission grid improvements and reform of transmission authorization rules.
- Promotes clean and renewable fuels, by providing incentives for clean coal technology and renewable energies such as biomass, wind, solar and hydroelectricity.
- Requires greater energy conservation by establishing new mandatory efficiency requirements for federal buildings, and efficiency standards and product labeling for battery chargers, commercial refrigerators, freezers, unit heaters and other household products.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/id02_simpson/energy_conference.html