Issue Position: Energy & Environment - Energy Independence

Issue Position

Energy Independence

In early 2007, at the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress began an exhaustive examination into energy independence and eventually passed the Energy Independence and Security Act. This measure puts America on a path toward energy independence, strengthens our national security, grows our economy and creates new jobs, lowers energy prices, and begins to address global warming. Specifically, it:

* increases the fuel efficiency of vehicles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020;
* expands American-grown biofuels (Renewable Fuels Standard) to 36 billion gallons in 2022;
* slashes U.S. oil consumption by more than 4 million barrels per day by 2030-- more than twice our daily imports from the Persian Gulf;
* saves consumers more than $400 billion through new energy efficiency standards for appliances, lighting and buildings through 2030;
* creates hundreds of thousands of jobs;
* promotes massive development of biofuels;
* spurs cutting-edge energy research;
* prepares workers for 3 million new "green" jobs over the next 10 years; and
* promotes small businesses as renewable energy leaders

I am pleased to say that a number of the provisions included in the Energy Independence bill came from discussions and conversations that I had back home in Wisconsin with experts on energy, the environment, and climate change. From those discussions, I crafted language included in the bill to increase industrial and home energy efficiency standards, encourage advanced battery and plug-in hybrid programs, minimize exposure to mercury in energy efficient light bulbs, and study the adequacy of railroad transportation for renewable fuels. These energy efficiency measures, combined with many others in this bill, will reduce energy costs to consumers. The bill also will remove as much as 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030, more than the annual emissions of all of the cars on the road in America today.

However, our work is not done. We must reduce our dependence on foreign oil and plan for a post petroleum economy. Advancements in wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and other renewable energies must be a part of the solution.

Source