Pryce: Energy Plan Will Energize Our Economy
Washington, DC - Culminating four years of hard work, the House voted today in favor of the final version of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R. 6). Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) issued the following statement praising its passage:
“Today the House passed the most comprehensive energy legislation we’ve seen in the last 30 years. This balanced bill will not only reduce our dependency on foreign oil making us safer here at home, but will also spur our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“This bill provides incentives that will encourage Ohio’s energy and automotive industry to invest in energy efficient infrastructure, creating hundreds of jobs and economic opportunities in our State. The bill also offers incentives for families to adopt these new technologies. By improving our environment through the promotion of clean and renewable fuels and energy conservation, Ohio will be an even greater place to live and work.”
“Energy security depends on our energy independence. This plan will encourage more domestic production of oil, help put more Americans back to work, and through conservation and better environmental options help bring America’s energy system into the 21st Century.”
Highlights of the Energy Policy Act of 2005:
- Addresses rising gasoline prices and our dependency on foreign oil. Encourages more domestic production of oil with incentives such as a streamlined permit process; promote a greater refining capacity to bring more oil to market; and increases the gasoline supply by stopping the proliferation of expensive regional boutique fuels.
- Improves our nation’s electricity transmission capacity and reliability to stop future blackouts through the adoption of reliability standards, incentives for transmission grid improvements and reform of transmission authorization rules.
- Requires greater energy conservation by establishing new mandatory efficiency requirements for federal buildings, and efficiency standards and product labeling for battery chargers, commercial refrigerators, freezers, unit heaters and other household products.
- Extends Daylight Saving Time by four weeks to reduce energy consumption by the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil for each day of the extension. Studies indicate that the proposal to adopt daylight savings time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November will also lower crime and traffic fatalities and allow for more recreation time and increased economic activity.
- Deters unfair foreign competition from undermining U.S. energy security. The bill delays the government’s Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) from reviewing sensitive international energy mergers, such as the active bid for Unocal by the Chinese National Overseas Oil Company – an entity 70 percent owned by the communist Chinese government – for 120 days to allow for a review by the Departments of Defense, Energy and Homeland Security. The assessment would examine the proposed deal’s impact on U.S. energy security and whether or not an American company would be allowed to make such an acquisition in the foreign company’s host country. CFIUS would also be required to wait three weeks after completion of the study before it can make recommendations to the president the international merger at issue.
- Boosts production of clean natural gas to help alleviate soaring prices for the environmentally friendly fuel. Specifically, the bill breaks the bureaucratic logjam that has stymied work on approximately 40 liquefied natural gas facilities nationwide.
- Encourages more nuclear and hydropower production by authorizing the Department of Energy to develop accelerated programs for the production and supply of electricity; setting the stage for the lengthy process of building new nuclear reactors by offering risk insurance incentives and extending Price-Anderson indemnification; and improving current procedures for hydroelectric project licensing.
