Kaptur Backs New Energy Bill As First Step Toward a Declaration of Energy Independence'
Press Release
Kaptur Backs New Energy Bill As First Step Toward a Declaration of Energy Independence'
Marcy Kaptur voted in favor of a new energy policy for America that she described as "a first step toward a new declaration of energy independence."
"Not a moment too soon," Kaptur said, "Congress finally has taken action on the energy crisis that is squeezing the middle class, threatening our economy, distorting our foreign policy, and leaving us vulnerable to repressive governments that just happen to control vast oil reserves."
Kaptur, a longtime proponent of alternative energy, including the solar and hydrogen research center at the University of Toledo, said the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act means Congress is moving in the right direction on energy.
"I'm still not satisfied with the pace of the effort," she said. "We need an initiative as bold as the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb and as ambitious as the Apollo Project that put a man on the moon. At least this bill makes a start at reducing our dangerous dependence on foreign oil."
Spurred along by a doubling of the price of gasoline since 2001, the new energy bill holds out the prospect of much-needed price relief to the American consumers and will create thousands of new jobs in the development of alternative energy.
The bill will increase corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for new cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. It will cut projected U.S. oil consumption by more than four million barrels a day by 2030 and expand American-grown biofuel production to 36 billion gallons in 2022.
The improved fuel efficiency standards will save consumers an estimated $22 billion a year at the gasoline pump through 2020 (or, between $700 and $1,000 per family each year). "I was pleased that the final bill incorporated the concerns of organizations such as the United Auto Workers who were adamant about saving good-paying American jobs," Kaptur said.
Building, appliance and lighting efficiency will save consumers $400 billion through 2030 and should make American products more competitive in the world market.
The bill also adopts a renewable electricity standard and creates tax incentives for clean renewable and alternative energy-all of which will be paid for by repealing subsidies that are currently going to the big oil companies.
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