America’s continued dependence on imported oil and polluting fossil fuels continues to compromise our national security, drive sky high gasoline and home heating costs, burden our economy, and threaten our health and our environment. Oil and gas prices seem to break records constantly, and in the Hudson Valley where commuting and home heating are an unavoidable necessity, these high prices are forcing some painful sacrifices. The need for real leadership to pursue a new path to energy independence has never been greater, and I am committed to fighting in Congress to meet this challenge.

Clean Energy Agenda
In order to break away from our reliance on old sources of energy and to forge a new, clean energy future America must take bold, comprehensive action. I support undertaking an aggressive, sweeping, Apollo program-like effort to spur research into new technologies, renewable sources of energy, and energy efficiency. We should use greater investment in wind, solar, and hydropower, particularly low-head hydropower, to replace the need to rely on polluting forms of energy like old, coal burning plants and nuclear power facilities. It is also imperative that we use new technologies to make our vehicles as efficient as possible to cut demand for oil and allow our auto industry to stay competitive in the global market. By doing so, we could save drivers money at the gas pump, dramatically reduce our need to rely on oil from hostile countries, and significantly reduce tailpipe emissions.

During my first year in Congress, I was proud to take to the floor of the House in support of the Energy Independence and Security Act. This new law makes historic progress by increasing automotive efficiency standards for the first time in a generation, raising them to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. This step alone will strike a major blow in our battle for energy independence and lower gas prices by cutting costs at the pump by as much as $1000 per year, saving over a million barrels of oil a day and greatly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other sweeping measures in the new law, such as requirements for federal buildings to be more efficient, increased use of biofuels, and significant increases in the efficiency of our homes, businesses and appliances will slash our reliance on old energy sources and usher in thousands of new, green jobs to power our economy.

Gas prices are through the roof, breaking family budgets and dragging down our economy. To beat these high prices once and for all we need to end our dependence on foreign oil and develop new, clean, domestic sources of energy. We also need to take action now to provide price relief at the pump for Hudson Valley drivers. To meet this goal I’ve supported:

• H.R. 6515, The Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (DRILL) Act, which would allow for an effective and responsible increase in domestic oil and natural gas supplies by annually offering development leases in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska as well as enacting “Use It of Lose It” rules that would force oil companies to get to work on the land that’s already been leased or step aside for someone who will. About 75% of the oil in the U.S. is on lands that are open for exploration, but less than one third are in use. There are currently 68 million acres of federal land open for exploration and leased by the oil companies. If Big Oil started work on land already open for drilling instead of just stockpiling leases, we could double U.S. oil supplies.
• H.R. 6578, the Consumer Energy Supply Act, which would release at least 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to put more oil on the market and lower prices right away. A release of oil from the SPR is a proven method of calming markets and lowering prices. The last three presidents have successfully used it to protect the economy against price spikes, swiftly and significantly cutting the price of oil by anywhere from 9% to 33%. The SPR is 97% full and holds over 700 million barrels of oil. We could easily release 70 million barrels to help ease the economic pressure on Hudson Valley families without compromising national security.
• H.R. 6346, the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act, which gives the government new authority to investigate and punish those who artificially inflate the price of energy, and H.R. 6074, the Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act, which authorizes the Justice Department to take legal action against OPEC entities that participate in conspiracies to fix the price and creates a new Department of Justice Petroleum Industry Antitrust Task Force to combat supply manipulation and oil industry practices.

In order to take other steps to help address America’s energy challenges, I have cosponsored:

• H.R. 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act, which will provide critical support for a new era of clean energy technology by extending and expanding key tax incentives for energy technologies like wind, solar, and other renewable sources of power, plug-in hybrid cars, energy efficient homes, buildings, and appliances. The tax incentives would be paid for by repealing unnecessary taxpayer subsidies to the oil and gas companies.
• H.R. 969, which would establish a Renewable Energy Standard to ensure that 20% of our electricity comes from renewable energy sources by 2020.
• H.R. 539, The Buildings for the 21st Century Act, which would expand federal tax deductions for energy efficient commercial buildings.
• H.R. 589, the Get Real Incentives to Drive Plug-in Act, which provides grants and incentives to encourage the use of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). PHEVs can operate using electricity or biofuels, dramatically increasing fuel economy, cutting dependence on foreign oil, and reducing tailpipe emissions.
• H.R. 670, the Dependence Reduction through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy Act, which establishes a goal of reducing the need for foreign oil by 2.5 million barrels per day, eliminating dependence on Persian Gulf oil by 2015, and by 5 million barrels by 2025. Toward this goal, the bill would provide tax credits for biofuels, hybrid vehicles, flex-fuel vehicles, and establish measures to increase fuel efficiency and sources of alternative fuels.