Congressman Mike Sodrel

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Energy Policy

REP. SODREL ON ENERGY AND RENEWABLE FUELS

Rep. Sodrel’s background in the transportation industry gives him a profound understanding of what high energy prices can do to a business or family budget. There is no immediate solution to the problem but Rep. Sodrel is working on the long term solutions by promoting renewable fuels grown and produced in Indiana, increase domestic production, and supporting alternative fuels to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Rep. Sodrel will continue to promote research for cellulosic ethanol produced from agriculture waste, switch grass, biomass and wood chips. Furthermore, Rep. Sodrel supports the creation of new incentives for renewable fuels vehicles and retool the biodiesel tax credit to make it more effective. These measures will eventually lead to our dependence from all oil.

·The Energy Policy Act of 2005, H.R. 6: During the 1990’s, foreign energy imports to the United States rose from 33 percent to almost 60 percent. This trend was caused by the lack of a comprehensive energy plan. To reverse this inclination, Rep. Sodrel voted for a comprehensive energy bill to decrease foreign energy imports and promote domestic sources. This bill was the first major energy plan passed by Congress in over 14 years and takes a balance approach of conservation, efficiency, production and the promotion of renewable and alternative energy:

Renewable: Increases the use of renewable fuels in gasoline by requiring refiners to blend at least 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2012, provides tax incentives for retailers to install alternative and renewable fueling stations, extends the tax credit for producing electricity from renewable sources, promotes the use of biodiesel, and creates a new type of bond to help not-for-profit electric utilities build renewable generators.
Conservation: Authorizes funds for implementation and enforcement of federal fuel economy standards, provides tax incentives for consumers to purchase hybrid, fuel cells and alternative fuel vehicles, mandates “dual-fueled” vehicles owned by the federal government must operate on alternative fuels, and provides $200 million for the “Clean Cities” program to provide grants to state and local governments to acquire alternative, fuel cells, hybrid and ultra-low sulfur diesel vehicles.
Energy Efficiency: Provides grants for state and local governments to construct energy efficient buildings, authorizes $1.23 billion for weatherization assistance, encourage consumers to purchase energy efficient appliances through $250 million in rebates, establishes energy conservation standards for consumer products and extends the Energy Savings Performance Contracts program.
Domestic Production: Improves the reliability of the electric power grid, promotes transmission infrastructure development, authorizes the Clean Coal Power Initiative for clean coal research and development, increase penalties for market manipulation in the natural gas and electricity markets, streamlines the permit process for LNG sites, and allows the Department of the Interior to conduct a research and development project on federal lands for oil shale.

·Promoting Renewable Fuels from Indiana Farmers, H.Con.Res. 424: Rep. Sodrel knows Hoosier farmers have a major role to play in providing energy security to the United States. The increase use of renewable fuels will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and eventually eliminate our dependence on oil altogether. For this reason, Rep. Sodrel cosponsored H.Con.Res. 424 to set the goal for the United States to consume 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources from farmers and foresters by the year 2025. This goal is one Rep. Sodrel believes is necessary to set and is confident farmers and foresters in Indiana are able to meet the challenge.

·Increasing Domestic Production, H.R. 4318: One of the reasons foreign energy imports have increased is domestic production has declined due to ban on oil and gas exploration off the United States’ coast. Rep. Sodrel believes we cannot allow this moratorium to continue when Cuba is allowing China to drill in waters only 50 miles of the coast of Florida. Therefore, Rep. Sodrel supports a balanced approach to produce more domestic energy at home while increasing our use of renewable energy. To allow for oil and gas exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf, Rep. Sodrel is a cosponsor of H.R. 4318. A compromise-version of this bill passed the House on June 29, 2006 by a vote of 232-187 that protects sensitive areas along the United States coast but still allow for exploration in U.S. waters.

·Encouraging Renewable Fuels Infrastructure: There are an estimated 8 million flex-fuel vehicles on the road today and about 125,000 in Indiana alone. These flex-fuel vehicles can run on regular unleaded gasoline or renewable fuels such as E-85 (85 percent ethanol) with no modifications to the vehicle engine. However, the infrastructure to get these products to consumers is lagging. Rep. Sodrel supported legislation to use funds collected from violations of the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards to provide grants for installation of E-85 pumps to help consumers have more options at the pump. Furthermore, Rep. Sodrel was on hand in Jasper, Indiana for the grand opening of the first E-85 pump in the 9^th Congressional District.

·Protecting Consumers at the Pump, H.R. 5253: During the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, concerns were raised about the pricing practices of gasoline retailers. Consumers need to know they can rely on the federal government to protect them from such practices. To address these concerns, Congress passed legislation with Rep. Sodrel’s support to require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to define price gouging, provide more authority to the FTC and state Attorney General offices to investigate potential “price gouging” and increase penalties for violators. The bill passed the House by a vote of 389-34 on May 3, 2006.

·H-Prize Act: Hydrogen research and development is key to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. However, the commercial application of a hydrogen economy is still years off. To help spark development in hydrogen research, Rep. Sodrel supported H.R. 5143, the H-Prize Act of 2006. This bill—based off the idea of the Ansari X Prize for privately funded suborbital human spaceflight—would establish a national prize contest and offer prizes in three categories; technological advancements, prototypes and transformational technologies. H.R. 5143 passed the House on May 10, 2006 by a vote of 416-6.

·Clean Coal Technologies: The FutureGen Initiative is an attempt to build the world's first integrated sequestration and hydrogen production research power plant. This facility would be the world's first zero-emissions fossil fuel plant. Indiana’s coal resources can play an important role in this project, creating new jobs for Hoosiers and promote new energy technologies. Rep. Sodrel supports the FutureGen Initiative and signed a letter with the Indiana and Illinois Congressional Delegation to U.S. Secretary of Energy to encourage a site for the plant along the Wabash River. The Department of Energy recently announced the project will be built at one of two sites in Illinois along the Wabash River to make it in close proximity to Indiana coal fields.

To receive updates on how Rep. Sodrel is helping to reduce gasoline prices and promote renewable fuels, please sign up for his newsletter at www.sodrel.house.gov.