Cap and Trade

In July 2009, House of Representatives debated and voted on the American Clean Energy and Security Act.  The bill would reduce the use of greenhouse gas emissions and make significant changes to our nation's energy policies.  While I believe it is important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, I was disheartened to see that this bill would impose too steep a cost on the use and advancement of our domestic resources, including our area's major resource, coal.  I believe that coal must and will play a major role in our nation's transition to energy independence.  In Ohio, 86 percent of our electricity comes from coal.  And the vast majority of that coal comes from Appalachian Ohio.  Because we are located in an area of the country that heavily relies on coal to turn on the lights and heat our homes, I feared Ohio families and energy intensive industries, like steel, would bear the brunt of the cost from this version of climate change legislation.  Therefore, I proudly voted no on this bill and am pleased that the Senate has not passed a similar version of this legislation.

Gulf Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on a British Petroleum (BP) licensed drilling rig off the Louisiana shore, resulting in millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.  I am very concerned about this terrible disaster and I believe that BP and the federal government must do everything possible to end this spill, protect the livelihood of those impacted, and restore the fragile Gulf Coast ecosystem.  While efforts have been made to manage this oil spill, it continues to have a significant impact on the coastal ecosystem and the lives of Gulf Coast residents.  On July 30, 2010, House leadership brought up H.R. 3534, the CLEAR Act which was intended to create new safety measures and hold the oil industry fully responsible for the cleanup costs of the BP spill.  But, I could not support this legislation.  Buried at the end of the bill is language that will force every American oil and gas well construction site to get a permit from the EPA for storm water runoff under the Clean Water Act.  Knowing that our district drilled 588 wells between 2005 and 2009, I could not possibly vote to stop that progress by involving the EPA.  In addition, the CLEAR Act will impose a new tax of $2 per barrel on oil and $0.20 per million BTU on natural gas captured on federal lands.  This amounts to a new tax that can be passed on to consumers.   During these tough economic times, the last thing we should be doing is raising energy taxes on our working families.  Furthermore, it just doesn’t make common sense that we would raise the prices on domestic energy sources just as we are trying to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Currently, this bill is awaiting action in the Senate. 

For more about my work on energy, click here.