Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Floor Speech

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - December 13, 2007)

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, clearly this energy bill points us in a new direction. This is a much greener energy bill than we have seen in the past and certainly is more consumer friendly. It is a greener energy bill because it is nearly a 20-percent reduction in future CO2 output by the year 2030. It is a greener energy bill because it does make mandates on the Federal Government's use of energy. In fact, it is a 30-percent reduction in energy used by Federal buildings, resulting in a $4 billion annual savings to taxpayers by 2020. I know that may be hard for some people to believe and understand, but it is a lot of savings considering that there are 500,000 Federal buildings and that Government is the largest user of electricity in the country. So mandating these energy reductions is going to make us more efficient and certainly apply the use of those savings to help American taxpayers.

It is also a greener energy bill because it sets up new appliance and lighting standards. Again, I know people underestimate efficiency. Today household appliances, lighting, and electronics use up to two-thirds of the energy in households. By requiring these new standards for manufacture of these products, we will save over 40,000 megawatts of energy. That is the same amount of electricity used in 19 States today. It is certainly a greener energy bill because we are putting at the pump for consumers a renewable fuel competition for fossil fuel. We are doing that by mandating 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2020. That amount is the same amount we import from the Persian Gulf today. So swapping that oil out for a greener energy supply for our future is a tremendous benefit.

This also is a great consumer bill. It is a great consumer bill because of the fuel efficiency standards. The 35 miles per gallon will save American drivers over $200 billion at the gas pump. For my State of Washington, we will give consumers an annual $436 million of savings. It is also a consumer-friendly bill because we are reducing our dependence on foreign oil. This is a 35-percent reduction in our foreign oil consumption, and American consumers view this as one of our Nation's biggest priorities.

And it is a consumer-friendly bill because we have protected consumers by making market manipulation of oil markets a Federal crime. I know we have heard stories. I know there are lots of issues about speculation. But by giving the FTC new authority to issue fines per violation, we are giving consumers more protection.

I yield the floor.

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I too want to add my thanks to my staff--Amit Ronen and Lauren Bazel--for their hard work, as well as the staff of the Finance, Energy, and Commerce Committees.

I commend Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye for working so hard to get this landmark legislation, which has been 30 years in the making, to pass here in the Senate. Everybody from these committees has worked very hard. I thank the staff for their diligence and their perseverance in making this happen.

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