Walz Urges Speaker Pelosi to Bring Comprehensive Bipartisan Energy Bill

Press Release

WALZ URGES SPEAKER PELOSI TO BRING COMPREHENSIVE BIPARTISAN ENERGY BILL

Contact: Meredith Salsbery
507-388-2149

Today, in a letter to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Tim Walz requested that she bring the bipartisan National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act (HR 6709) to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote when the House resumes its work in September.

"Our country urgently needs a comprehensive energy policy that increases the domestic supply of oil and gas and provides a greater investment in the use of renewable energy sources," said Walz. "This is a historic opportunity for us, Democrats and Republicans, to work together to solve the energy crisis and move our country forward."

Earlier this summer, Walz joined a bipartisan energy working group to address the short-, medium- and long-term energy challenges facing our country. A few weeks ago, the 20 member group introduced the bipartisan National Conservation, Environment, and Energy Independence Act, which currently has 119 cosponsors in the U.S. House. This legislation will provide immediate relief at the pump for consumers by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, expand drilling and increase domestic oil production, and use the royalties from expanded oil production to provide a reliable and significant source of new funding for renewable energy research and energy conservation. This new funding will allow America to speed up the development of next-generation renewable fuels.

It is estimated that there will be $2.6 trillion in royalties generated from the leases sold in the Outer Continental Shelf, with more than $1 trillion of that dedicated to conservation and renewable energy research and development. Of that, $390 billion is set aside for the creation of a Renewable Energy Reserve, which will be used to fund efforts to encourage the use of cleaner domestic energy resources and alternative fuels, promote the use of energy-efficient products, and increase research, development and deployment of clean renewable energy and efficiency technologies.

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