Energy Policy Act of 2003-Conference Report

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003-CONFERENCE REPORT

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I know we have had a healthy debate on this issue and in a few minutes we will probably have one of the closest votes this body has seen in a while. But I want to make one point clear this morning. This vote is about whose side you are on: Whether you are on the side of ratepayers and consumers in making sure we have a national energy policy that works or whether you are going to give in to the special interests who are at this very moment trying to put last-minute deals on the table, ripening other bills with projects that will convince Members to switch over at the last minute instead of standing up for the public.

When the Vice President started this effort, he said, "We are going to have a national energy policy," quoting from his report that a lot of people took pride in, thinking that somehow this administration was going to play a leadership role in an energy policy for the 21st century.

In that report, the Vice President said:

It envisions a comprehensive long-term strategy that uses leading edge technology to produce an integrated energy, environmental, and economic policy to achieve a 21st century quality of life, enhanced by renewable energy and a clean environment. We must modernize conservation, modernize our infrastructure, increase energy supply, including renewables, accelerate the protection and improvement of our environment, and increase greater energy security.

That is what the Vice President's goal and objectives were. Unfortunately, this bill cannot defy gravity. It is so weighted down with special interest pork subsidies and things that Americans are going to be shocked to see that this bill needs to fail.

We have all heard about the subsidies in the wrong place, $23 billion in incentives, mostly going to the fossil fuel industry. We have heard about the exemptions for Texas. Here it is that we are trying to come up with an electricity title that somehow makes everybody else more responsible and accountable with electricity, but we are going to exempt Texas.

Also, the overturning of various environmental laws-why is it that every other business in America, whether a high-tech firm or a farmer, has to comply with environmental laws, but somehow we are going to let new construction of oil, gas, and coal out of the mandates of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and some of our rules on public lands?

As I said yesterday, one of the biggest tragedies of this bill is the missed opportunity for jobs. We could have gotten language in this bill that would have provided for a natural gas pipeline out of Alaska that would have benefited many in this country as far as job creation is concerned. It would have benefited many of us in the Northwest in getting off our overreliance on hydro energy.

We missed an opportunity in planning for the hydrogen economy; 750,000 jobs could have been created in the next 10 years by having a vision. Not just one line in a State of the Union speech about a hydrogen car, but instead a plan with specifics and incentives so the United States could be a world leader in the hydrogen fuel economy. That is not what is in this bill.

I woke up this morning to read in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer online an article that was entitled "The Energy Bill, It Would Be A Hoot, If It Wasn't So Sad."

In that article it says :

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose secretive energy task force crafted much of the energy bill in consultation with industry executives, is coming to our Washington next month for a GOP fundraiser.

I would advise the Vice President not to come and talk about his energy policy in the Northwest.

Curiously, the Senate yesterday debated the energy bill and its subsidies in a virtual media blackout.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 4 minutes.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask for an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. BINGAMAN. We yield the Senator an additional 30 seconds.

Ms. CANTWELL. This bill hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. But one thing is clear: Members are going to be held accountable for whose side they are on. The energy policy of this administration has fleeced Northwest ratepayers from essential dollars and now this bill promulgates that policy further by giving in to special interests. This bill should fail.