Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act

INTERNET TAX NONDISCRIMINATION ACT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I would like to take a little time this afternoon to talk about one of the pending amendments. This would be the amendment of the Senator from New Mexico regarding energy. It has been said on this floor and in the committees in which I have been participating, and no doubt it is going to be said again: At a time when the American economy is suffering under the weight of high energy prices such as the steadily increasing natural gas prices, record high gasoline prices as we go into the summer months, and tight international oil markets resulting in rising crude oil prices, it is time that the Congress act on issues as they relate to energy with a comprehensive national energy policy.

I am pleased the Senate is reconsidering this vital national policy. I commend Chairman Domenici for his leadership on this issue. The Senator from New Mexico has shown a great deal of willingness to find the middle ground on many of these issues addressed in the amendment. I believe we should work with him to enact this comprehensive energy legislation.

There are several different components to the amendment. Certainly the one I happen to focus on most, coming from Alaska, is that area which will help facilitate the construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline. Construction of this pipeline means a great deal to the people in my State. It means not only jobs for Alaskans, but it means energy, natural gas, to my State.

But we have to look beyond just what it can provide to Alaska. The construction of a natural gas pipeline will create thousands of jobs throughout the United States and bring a much needed new supply of domestically produced natural gas to our starved lower 48 markets.

We have seen in the news recently the suggestion, coming from Mr. Greenspan, that the future, if you will, is in imported LNG. Once again, it is the emphasis that we should place in the national energy policy on domestic sources of energy. We have those domestic reserves in Alaska, as it relates to natural gas. Let's take advantage of that.

Residential natural gas customers are paying nearly historic high costs to heat their homes, to cool their homes, to keep the lights on. Americans are increasingly forced to spend a substantial portion of their household income on energy costs. A reasonably priced supply of natural gas will allow homeowners to devote a greater portion of their disposable income to other pursuits.

When you think about the state of the economy and what we spend on energy, the more disposable income that we have, the less we have to spend on energy, the stronger an economy we have.

But it is not just the residential customers in America who are suffering from these sustained high natural gas prices. It is our industrial consumers who rely on natural gas to produce the petrochemicals, the fertilizers, and other goods. They are losing their markets to foreign competitors who have access to less expensive reserves of gas. Whether I am sitting in the Energy Committee or the EPW, talking about what is happening across the country now, whether it is on our farms or whether it is AMAZON.Com not being able to produce the packaging bubbles domestically because of the high price of natural gas, it affects all of us in all the industries.

In many instances we are hearing about the companies that are laying off workers, closing their factories, because they simply cannot pay the current natural gas prices and remain competitive within the global marketplace. The layoffs affect thousands of workers in many regions of the country.

Look at what Alaska's natural gas can do. We are a long way from the rest of the 48, but with a pipeline getting our reserves of natural gas into the lower 48, we can meet that supply need; we can help to reopen these factories.

Natural gas is not only a vital feedstock for industry and home heating, it also serves as a major fuel for electricity production. By the year 2020, the Energy Information Agency has predicted that natural gas will account for 32 percent of all electricity generation. When we think back to the situation just last August in the Northeast, California's power problems 3 years ago, increasing the investment requirements for our Nation's electrical grid and production capability will only further the demand for natural gas as plant operators look to natural gas as having lower capital costs, higher fuel efficiency, shorter construction lead times, and lower emissions as compared to traditional coal-fired electrical plants.

Yet with all of these facts in front of us, recognizing that the residential consumer is paying more, that the industrial consumer is paying more, and businesses are being closed, recognizing the future as it relates to electricity production, and considering the President's request, if you will, that we move to a hydrogen-based society, the request he made in his State of the Union Address last year when he indicated he wanted children who were born today to be driving vehicles powered by hydrogen-it is wonderful, but we have to have the natural gas to assist with all of this.

Despite all of Alaska's proven reserves, 35 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves on the North Slope with the possibility of upwards of 100 trillion cubic feet still in the ground, we need to do all we can to bring that from Alaska's North Slope to the rest of the country.

Senator Domenici's amendment is not all about natural gas. For electricity, about which many of my colleagues have spent a great deal of time talking on the floor, the amendment ensures reliable and affordable electricity for America.

We all recognize that we in Congress must address the issue of reliability. The amendment would prohibit onerous Federal manipulation of energy trading markets that cost consumers money, and it would increase the penalties for market manipulation and enhance consumer protections.

To those of my colleagues who have called on the Senate to address the electricity issue, the reliability issue, I say support Senator Domenici's proposal.

For coal, which is used to produce 50 percent of our Nation's electricity, the amendment authorizes $2 billion to fund the Clean Coal Power Initiative. The development of clean coal technology will help our Nation use its abundant coal resources in an environmentally responsible manner.

In Alaska, we are working to find new ways to use our very abundant reserves while mitigating the impact on our environment. We have a little place called Healy, AK, where we have a small experimental clean coal plant. This clean coal plant is currently sitting dormant. It just barely missed its emissions requirement. We were attempting to utilize new technology to again provide very necessary energy to an area that was very limited in what it could receive and what it could generate. Once the Healy clean coal plant and other clean coal technologies demonstrate better ways for us to generate electricity from coal, we can utilize our Nation's vast coal resources in an environmentally responsible manner for many years to come, as well as provide high-paying jobs and much needed electricity.

There is also renewable energy. For renewable energy, the amendment reauthorizes the Renewable Energy Production Incentive Program to promote the use of clean renewable energy. The amendment would also encourage exploration and development of geothermal energy, including a call for rulemaking on a new royalty structure that encourages new production.

I could go further in detailing all those very important matters contained in the energy amendment, but I think these four examples-authorizing the Alaska natural gas pipeline, improving our Nation's electricity grid, providing research on clean coal technology, and promoting the use of clean renewable energy-illustrate the immense benefits of a comprehensive energy policy. They are great, but they are meaningless to us unless we enact them.

A comprehensive national energy policy, as envisioned in Senator Domenici's amendment, will generate thousands of jobs throughout the country. As I said on many occasions, the Energy bill is a jobs bill. So is this amendment.

I commend the Senator from New Mexico for offering this amendment. I know my constituents in Alaska don't care whether this bill is enacted as an amendment or as a stand-alone bill. My constituents want to see the jobs. My constituents want to see the energy, they want to see the natural gas, and they want to see movement on an energy policy. I think most Americans want the same thing. They want high-paying jobs. They want decreased volatility in the energy market. They want increased use of renewable energy and improved electricity grids. I think we have that within this amendment.

I urge my colleagues as we move forward to support the amendment of the Senator from New Mexico.

I thank the Chair. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.