WASHINGTON – Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today called the Bush Administration energy bill "irresponsible, poorly thought out and unable to achieve its goal of making our nation energy independent."

The Congressman singled out three areas of criticism for the Omnibus Energy Bill, which is likely to be voted on Wednesday. His concerns include:

• The bill is extremely weak on conservation. In fact, only 20% of tax incentives in the bill are related to conservation. "I realize the Vice President has referred to conservation as ‘a personal virtue,' but I strong disagree. In fact, a recent scientific report states that if we emphasize energy-saving technologies we could reduce the growth of electricity by some 20%.
• Second, the real goal of this bill is to open up the Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and gas drilling. Yet, opening up ANWR would do little to meet our national energy needs. Studies show that the amount of economically recoverable oil in the refuge would last only six months and would not be available to consumers for another 10 years. Coupled with the negative environmental impacts, drilling in ANWR is just not worth it.
• And, finally, the energy bill is estimated to cost $34 billion over 10 years. "I am very troubled that this measure contains a ‘royalty holiday' for oil companies, allowing them to forgo payments to the U.S. government for drilling on federal lands. There is no justification for this giveaway." To illustrate his point, the Congressman pointed to an article in the July 30, 2001 Wall Street Journal titled "Major Oil Companies Struggle to Spend Huge Hoards of Cash."

"We need a comprehensive and effective energy policy and that means any energy bill must include a major effort to conserve and to develop renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, this bill does little to seriously address our nation's energy needs," said Rep. Cardin.