Congressman Walz calls for Bipartisan Solution on Energy

Press Release

Congressman Walz calls for Bipartisan Solution on Energy

This summer, in a small room on Capitol Hill, something amazing occurred. A group of about 20 members of the House of Representatives — equally divided between Democrats and Republicans — put aside partisan differences, listened to each other's views and produced a compromise energy bill in the best interest of the American people.

And we discovered that when the bickering ended and the tired old slogans were put on the shelf, we were actually able to put together a balanced, reasonable approach to solving our nation's energy crisis.
For too long, our efforts to reach energy independence have been incomplete and too slow in the making. If NASA had employed the same sort of shoestring approach to the lunar missions that we've taken to addressing our dependence on foreign oil, we'd still be trying to determine how much rocket fuel it takes to get to the moon.

The urgency of our energy crisis demands that we develop a comprehensive solution. That's why we joined our colleagues on the Bipartisan House Energy Working Group to put aside the special interests and propose an energy package that addresses our nation's short-, mid- and long-term energy needs. In the days that followed the introduction of our bill, nearly 100 of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle quickly signed on in support of the National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act.

Our bipartisan bill is founded on three basic, common-sense principles. First, America must produce more of our oil and gas at home because we can't keep buying it from countries that all too often do not have America's best interests at heart. Second, we must promote new alternative and renewable sources of energy, which requires a dedicated funding stream for research and development. Finally, we need to expand our domestic energy production in an environmentally smart way so our energy and economic future is sustainable.

In the short term, our bill would push gas prices down by increasing the domestic supply of oil through an exchange of a portion of our nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. By releasing a percentage of the reserve and replacing it with a more appropriate type of crude, we can make responsible use of our nation's reserve to seek lower prices without risking our security. Moreover, the money from the oil sold in the exchange would go directly to funding research into promising fuel sources, including wind, geothermal, clean coal and biomass products.

In the mid term, this legislation would increase our oil production by expanding drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off our coasts in a responsible manner and in partnership with coastal states. Under our bill, deep-sea oil drilling would be permitted from 50 miles off our coastline, although no drilling would be allowed within 25 miles of the shore and individual states would determine whether to drill from 25 to 50 miles off their coasts.

And in the long term, our country will benefit greatly from the expanded drilling because it will help finance alternative and renewable energy research and development. Expanded drilling in the OCS could generate as much as $2.6 trillion in royalties over the next decade. These new royalties will provide the resources to enable states with coastal drilling to invest in key environmental protections, and most importantly, it would allow the United States to provide nearly $1 trillion in funding to speed up our nation's transition to new, cleaner energy sources that break our dependence on foreign oil.

Funding for expanded energy research and conservation, as well as environmental preservation and restoration efforts, isn't just a fortunate side effect of drilling; it is the outcome that we had in mind when we sat down together to hammer out a compromise energy bill.

This debate is too important to be handled with the same old political games that characterize too much of what happens in Congress these days. We must act quickly to become energy-independent if we want to stabilize our economy and strengthen our national security.

The way we see it, we have a choice: We can continue to stick with the same old arguments and political gamesmanship, or more Democrats and Republicans can join our efforts and promote a comprehensive, balanced solution to our nation's energy crisis.

There is no silver bullet, and it will take a wide-range of creative solutions to achieve our goals. From expanding domestic production, to alternative energy, to conservation and national security, this bill reflects a commitment to meeting our energy challenges with a truly bipartisan approach. Our vision of an energy-independent America deserves a vote in Congress. We call on the leadership in both parties to bring this bill up for a vote when Congress goes back into session in September.

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