Congress has a chance to take meaningful steps toward reducing this country’s dependence on fossil fuels and fostering energy independence.
While the omnibus energy bill, set to be voted upon Friday in the U.S. House, includes measures important to the entire country – and could significantly benefit Colorado and the West – the package looks more like a compromise than a comprehensive strategy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is hurrying the legislation before Congress’ recess, has had a difficult job keeping a diverse coalition of Democratic votes on board so that the measure has a hope of passing.
The bill has been the subject of intense lobbying by oil interests, automakers and others. As a result, it does not include proposals to use more ethanol as a substitute for gasoline, nor does it change the way royalties are collected from offshore federal oil and gas leases or increase auto fuel economy standards.
The last time the standards, known as the corporate average fuel economy standards, or CAFE, were raised was 1975. Congress has tried three times since the 1990s to mandate more fuel-efficient cars but has been thwarted each time by automakers.
The Senate version of the bill includes a CAFE increase, and it’s possible it could ultimately be included when the two versions of the energy bill are reconciled.
Democratic leadership should have found a way to sidestep CAFE opposition, which almost certainly is being engineered by Rep. John Dingell, a powerful Michigan Democrat who is known far and wide as an ally of his home state’s auto industry.
While fuel-efficiency measures seemed all but doomed on Wednesday, Pelosi said she plans a vote Friday to amend the bill and add a requirement that 20 percent of electricity nationwide come from renewable sources, such as wind, solar or geothermal, by 2020. Only about 2.3 percent of energy is now produced by renewables.
Colorado is among 20 states that already have renewable energy standards in place. But the amendment, being pushed by Reps. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Diana DeGette, D-Denver, could spur the state’s growing wind and solar power industry. It includes a provision that would allow states to buy renewable energy credits from other entities to help meet the standard.
Western states, including Colorado, are well-positioned to take advantage of such a mandate since wind and sunshine are abundant. Colorado ranks 11th among the 50 states in wind-energy potential and has eight wind farms either operating or under construction.
A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that such a national renewable requirement would create more than 350,000 new jobs and has the potential to revitalize rural America.
Given Colorado’s advanced position in wind and solar development, it’s clear that a nationwide renewable requirement would be beneficial for the state.
One of the components of Pelosi’s energy initiative that is sure to provoke a pitched battle is a proposal to impose nearly $16 billion in additional taxes on oil companies over a decade. That money would be used to promote energy conservation, efficiency and renewables.
It would go toward loan guarantees, tax breaks and other incentives for development of renewables, hybrid gas-electric cars and new efficiency standards for a host of appliances and equipment.
Given the large profits that oil companies have racked up in recent years – Exxon Mobil reported a $10 billion profit for the second quarter of this year alone – we don’t think a tax increase over 10 years for such laudable projects spells doom and gloom for the oil industry.
The legislation being debated surely includes some good policy. But it seems destined to fall short of the comprehensive energy strategy that this country so desperately needs.
