M. President, I rise today to praise the efforts of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for crafting the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007. As a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee I know a tremendous amount of work has been put into making this a strong energy package that will help us achieve energy self reliance, lower gasoline prices, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  Under Democratic Leadership we are headed into a new cleaner, greener and more affordable energy future.  One where we do not seek to treat our addiction to oil by drilling for yet more oil in the Arctic or of the East Coast.  This bill represents a bold step towards an economy that is based upon energy efficiency and renewable energy rather than fossil fuels.  As we work on this bill on the Senate floor we cannot forget this central value of the bill.

 

I do believe, however, that there are a few key amendments that will make this good bill even better.  The most important of these is Chairman Bingaman’s Renewable Portfolio Standard amendment requiring that 15% of the nation’s electricity be produced from renewable sources by 2020.  This forward thinking provision is declaration that our country is ready to be a renewable energy leader.

 

M. President, I often hear in the halls of Congress that energy is a regional issue.  If you represent a coal state, you probably support one set of policies.  If your state grows corn or drills for oil, you support other policies.  I understand the passionate advocacy one must undertake on behalf of one’s home state.  But energy can no longer be viewed as a parochial issue that only affects local interests. We in the United States Senate have a responsibility to ensure that our local interests do not jeopardize the nation’s interests as a whole.  Nor can we stand in the way of this great nation becoming a global leader on what has become a global issue.

 

For most of the past two centuries, this country has been blessed with an abundant supply of domestic energy bountiful enough to provide us with all the heat and power we needed.  But for the last 40 years we have increasingly had to look abroad to secure supplies of oil.  This quest to feed our seemingly insatiable appetite for oil has unquestionably shaped our foreign policy.  We pay the price for our oil habit when a corrupt regime like Iran feels emboldened to threaten its neighbors with nuclear weapons, and do so with impunity because their access to oil makes it possible for them to buy influence around the globe. As the New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has pointed out, it’s not a coincidence that when oil was $20 a barrel, both Russia and Iran launched internal reform programs to increase democratic participation. As the price of oil has soared past $70 a barrel, both of those countries have reversed course and used their burgeoning treasuries to stifle dissent and roll back democratic progress.

 

The same story can be told across the world. From the corrupt royal governments and pseudo-theocracies of Middle East, to the iron-fisted dictators who hold sway in the former Soviet countries in Central Asia, to the petro-populism of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, many of the countries who sit on the largest reserves of oil are the same countries who are now resisting reform and creating global instability. If the story of the 20th century was of a tidal wave of democracy sweeping across the globe, the emerging story of the 21st century is of that wave being swallowed underneath a flood of crude. As long as the tyrants who have the lucky fortune to sit on top of massive oil reserves can prop up their regimes through huge petroleum profits, there will be no reform. Finding alternatives to oil is a key to democratic, economic and social reform in much of the world.

 

In response to this energy security challenge some of my friends and colleagues will undoubtedly advocate federal support for efforts to produce a liquid fuel from coal.  They will point out that we have abundant supplies of coal and that we are the “Saudi Arabia of coal.”  This line of thought ignores the threat of global warming.  The lifecycle carbon emissions of liquid fuel made from coal is over twice that of gasoline.  If we substitute oil for coal, a fuel that releases even more greenhouse gases than oil, we are setting our planet up for disaster.  And that would mean we are continuing the same sort of traditional energy thinking designed to benefit our provincial energy interests at the expense of the rest of the nation and the world. Global warming is happening, it is caused by human activities and it is threatening our very existence. 

 

Recently the Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center catalogued the impacts of global warming in my state over the next century.  If we do not act quickly and decisively, Cape May Beach will erode between 160 to 500 feet inland; the Holland Tunnel will be forced to close due to repeated floods; heat-related deaths in our cities will rise five fold; and flooding around the Delaware River will cause millions of dollars in property damage.

 

Similar devastating impacts will be seen all over the world.  Floods will require the evacuation of millions in India and Bangladesh.  East Asia will experience increased water shortages.  Central Africa will see ever worsening drought conditions.  Warmer ocean surface temperatures will lead to stronger hurricanes and cyclones.

 

In order to address our energy challenges we must keep these world-wide impacts in mind, but that does not mean we should not act locally to achieve our national goals.  Just this past weekend the Washington Post ran an article with the headline “Cities Take Lead On Environment As Debate Drags At Federal Level.”  The article details the actions mayors have taken to fill the void left by the President’s lack of leadership on climate change.  Hundreds of mayors have created energy efficiency projects, promoted renewable energy, and vowed to meet the greenhouse gas reductions laid out in the Kyoto protocol. 

 

To foster this local spirit in our cities to tackle climate change I, along with Senator Sanders, have included a provision in this bill to create an Energy and Environmental Block Grant program.  This program will allow cities and counties to get federal grants to make their buildings more efficient, create new renewable energy projects and continue their leadership in reducing U.S. carbon emissions.

 

M. President, not only does the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 lower greenhouse gas emissions and help us achieve energy self-reliance, but the bill also promises to reduce prices at the pump.  First, the bill creates real competition for oil by increasing the production of renewable biofuels from 8.5 billion gallons per year in 2008 to 36 billion gallons per year by 2022.  Second, the bill lowers demand for oil by requiring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to achieve a nationwide fleet fuel economy average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars and light trucks.  Third, the bill expands federal research into plug-in hybrid technology so that electricity can compete against liquid fuels as a power source for our vehicles.  Finally, by cracking down on price gouging, the bill will ensure that oil companies cannot drive up costs without justification. For too long oil companies have been allowed to squeeze motorists for record profits without economic justification.  This bill will make oil markets more transparent and institute tougher civil and criminal penalties for market manipulation.  Taken together these measures will create more supply, put downward pressure on demand, and create a more competitive marketplace.  In turn this will lead to drastically lower prices for all drivers.

 

M. President, I want to thank Chairman Bingaman and ranking member Domenici for crafting a straightforward, beneficial, and bipartisan energy compromise.  Each of us comes to the United States Senate as representatives of our respective states, but our responsibilities don’t end at our states’ borders.  As national leaders, we also have a responsibility to come together and address issues such as our global energy challenges.  When it comes to these issues – whether it’s national security or global climate change, we must rise above local interests and show national leadership.  Then, and only then, will we be able to affect change that benefits consumers, improves our energy security and establishes the United States as a leader in the fight against global warming.

 

M. President, I urge my colleagues to support this important measure. 

 

I yield the floor.