FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 24, 2006

For Sale: America's Energy Security  

Consumers Pay Record Prices at the Pump While Energy Companies Bring in Record Profits

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, recently demanded that Chairman Joe Barton and Ranking Member John Dingell of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce initiate immediate hearings on legislation she introduced to reduce gas prices nation wide.

A recent report compiled by the House Rules Committee Minority Staff, America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption, contains an entire chapter documenting the degree to which America's energy security has been sold to the highest bidder by energy industry lobbyists and receptive members of Congress.

The report clearly demonstrates how major energy companies have used insider deals to benefit from government contracts and subsidies provided by the White House and the Republican Congress at the expense of American taxpayers, all at a time when consumers have found it more difficult than ever to afford their energy needs.  That chapter is included below.

Also included below is a summary of every amendment offered to the Bush/Cheney Energy bill which was not allowed to even be debated or considered on the house floor by this Republican Congress

To read America for Sale in its entirety, click here.

America's Energy SecuritY

An Energy Plan that Doesn't Address America's Energy Challenges

With the price of gasoline and home heating fuels higher than ever, Americans must find it hard to believe that the Republican Congress and the Bush White House have spent the past few years developing a national energy policy.  According to a recent report by the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, the average price of gas per gallon will rise to $2.45 in 2006, households heating with home heating oil will likely spend 16% more ($195) for fuel this winter than they did last winter, and homes using natural gas will spend 24% ($178) more than last winter.[1]  It should be obvious now to American consumers that the "national energy plan" was not written for them; it was written to enrich the oil and energy interests that have financed the Republican agenda. 

If they looked at our country's energy policy from a broader perspective, American consumers would also see that the United States continues to grow more dependent on foreign sources of energy.  As a group of concerned national security experts and environmentalists led by prominent conservative Frank Gaffney recently wrote in an open letter to the American people:

America consumes a quarter of the world's oil supply while holding a mere 3% of global oil reserves. It is therefore forced to import over 60% of its oil, and this dependency is growing. Since most of the world's oil is controlled by countries that are unstable or at odds with the United States this dependency is a matter of national security. At the strategic level, it is dangerous to be buying billions of dollars worth of oil from nations that are sponsors of or allied with radical Islamists who foment hatred against the United States.[2]

While the recently-passed "national energy plan" provides a dizzying array of tax breaks and special subsidies for various parts of the energy industry, it will not significantly lower the cost of energy for American consumers and businesses, and it will not reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil.  In fact, the push to develop a "national energy plan" has mostly been an effort by the Republican Congress and the Bush Administration (whose top leaders are former oil executives) to repay the energy industry for its strong political support.  There is no doubt, for example, that Exxon Mobil is doing well under the new national energy plan.  That company recently announced that while its 2005 profits had increased by 40% (to a record-breaking $36 billion), its tax bill had only risen by 14%.[3]  Energy companies that drill on federal government lands are also profiting under the current "national energy plan."  A recent investigation found that lax oversight by the Bush Administration has allowed energy companies to cheat the United States taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties the companies owe the American people by claiming they were selling the gas at below-market prices.[4]  Under the current "royalty relief" loopholes, the government will not receive $7 billion in royalty paments the oil companies should owe taxpayers over the next five years for drilling on federal lands.[5]

Ken Lay and Big Oil Write the Cheney Energy Plan

One of the energy executives who had a personal meeting with the Vice President was Ken Lay, the now-indicted former head of Enron.  Not surprisingly, the Cheney energy plan included many of Lay's suggestions, such as giving the federal government more power over electricity transmission networks.  Early in the Bush Administration, Ken Lay was not only helping write America's energy policy, he was also interviewing candidates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and recommending those who would be most friendly to Enron's agenda.  Lay even offered to put in a good word for a FERC Commissioner with the White House if the commissioner changed his policy on electricity competition.[9]  Undoubtedly, Lay was looking for federal regulators who would look the other way when Enron launched schemes (with cynical names like "Fat Boy" and "Death Star") to game the California wholesale electricity market and overcharge California electricity customers by billions of dollars.[10]

The Energy Industry Continues to Dominate Bush Energy Policy

The Bush Administration's coddling of the energy industry did not end with the Cheney energy plan.  President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the many political appointments they have made from the energy industry have loyally protected their old business from any proposal to conserve energy or hold the industry accountable for the environmental harm it causes.  The recent Sago mining tragedy in West Virginia highlighted the Bush Administration's industry-friendly mining safety policy, which has resulted in fewer safety inspections and fewer major fines for safety violations.[11]   As former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-FL) recently commented, the Bush Administration's hiring energy executives and lobbyists to fill government positions is like "foxes guarding the henhouse."[12]   Below are several more egregious examples:

• J. Steven Griles, the former Deputy Secretary at the Interior Department, received payments from his former lobbying firm totaling more than $1 million while acting as the number-two official in that agency. In spite of promising to avoid conflicts with his old firm and clients as a condition of his Senate confirmation, Griles continued to assist the energy and mining industry clients his old firm represented. Soon after joining Interior, Griles held a dinner party for department officials at the home of his former lobbying partner. He also intervened in a case regarding the right of his old clients, Chevron and Shell, to drill for natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California.[13] He helped another old client, Advanced Power Technologies, Inc., win more than $2 million worth of sole-source, no-bid contracts from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for aerial mapping work the BLM never requested.[14]

• In 2002 and 2003, Philip A. Cooney, former oil industry lobbyist and then-Chief of Staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, made dozens of changes to government climate reports that greatly weakened the reports' stances on global warming. Contrary to the findings of the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, Cooney's changes minimized the links between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.[15] Cooney had no scientific training, but had worked as a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute for more than ten years. As a climate team leader there, his focus was on defeating legislation that would restrict greenhouse gas emissions.[16] Two days after Cooney's revisions came to light, he resigned from the White House and took a job with Exxon Mobil, which has long lobbied against cutting emissions and has questioned the risks of global warming.[17]

• In January 2006, the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James E. Hansen, accused NASA political appointees of censoring his statements on climate change. In response to Hansen's statements about the dangers of global warming, NASA's political appointees began reviewing his publications and public statements, and vetting interview requests from journalists. As the government scientist in charge of NASA's efforts to simulate global climate change on computers, Hansen has regularly warned the public of the dangers of global warming, and recently released data showing that 2005 was probably the warmest year in at least a century.[18] In reaction to this story, Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the House Science Committee, wrote a letter to NASA's Administrator criticizing the agency for censoring Hansen's public comments. "Good science cannot long persist in an atmosphere of intimidation," he wrote.[19] Another recent story described how a 24-year old NASA political appointee with no scientific training (who was later fired for falsifying his résumé) ordered a NASA web designer to insert the word "theory" after every mention of the "Big Bang," to show that the Big Bang was just a theory, not a scientific fact.[20]

• On January 30^th, 2004, the Bush administration proposed new industry-friendly mercury pollution regulations for power plants. Reducing mercury emissions is an important public policy goal because mercury can cause serious neurological and developmental damage. A large portion of the proposed regulations was taken, sometimes verbatim, from suggestions drafted by industry lobbyists from Latham and Watkins, a major firm representing utility and energy companies with a vested interest in the regulations.[21] Instead of requiring coal-burning utilities to use the best possible technology to reduce their mercury pollution (as was discussed earlier in the rulemaking process), the final Bush rules imposed only a lower standard endorsed by the energy companies. The architect of the new rules and head of the EPA's air policy office was a former partner at Latham and Watkins.[22]

The Cheney Energy Plan Comes to Congress

Republicans failed to pass the Cheney energy plan in the first four years of the Bush Administration, but finally passed it in the first session of the 109^th Congress.  While the final version of the bill did not contain many of the most controversial provisions Republicans had pushed during the course of the debate, it still contained billions of dollars of subsidies for the energy sector at a time when oil companies were recording historic profits.  In fact, according to a 2004 analysis by the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, the Republican energy plan will not reduce the overall amount of energy consumption in the United States, and will cause the average gas prices in the year 2015 to be 3-8 cents higher than they would be under current law.[23]           

Over the course of three Congresses, the House considered about 80 of the more than 300 amendments Republicans and Democrats brought to the Rules Committee.  In the 109^th Congress, for example, the rule (H. Res. 219) made in order 30 amendments, but excluded another 60 amendments Republicans and Democrats brought to the Rules Committee.   (See Table 2 following this section for a complete list of these amendments.)  A number of episodes from the Congressional energy debate illuminate how the bill was really written.

• Vice President Cheney's old company Halliburton makes $1.5 billion a year using a controversial drilling technique called "hydraulic fracturing." This technique involves forcing toxic chemicals into the ground in order to increase oil production. Environmentalists are concerned that these chemicals might leach into drinking water. Starting with Cheney's secret energy task force in 2001, the Bush Administration has repeatedly overruled the concerns of professional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff and opposed regulating the controversial technique under the Safe Drinking Water Act. An EPA study concluded that hydraulic fracturing was safe, but a senior EPA official claims that the study was "hijacked" by a seven-person review panel packed with oil industry representatives-one of whom even worked for Halliburton at the time. Since taking office in 2001, Vice President Cheney has received almost $400,000 in deferred compensation from Halliburton.[24] When the Cheney energy plan came to Congress, it included language stripping the EPA of its authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The plan passed into law last year.[25]

• A major controversy during consideration of the bill in the 108^th Congress involved language inserted into the conference report involving a Kansas energy company called Westar. In 2002, two Westar executives launched a plan to insert a provision into the Energy Bill conference report that would allow them to spin off part of their company and personally enrich themselves. In order to get "a seat at the table" and the attention of important conferees Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), the Westar executives distributed more than $56,000 in campaign contributions to a political action committee controlled by Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) and other Republican candidates. When the Energy Bill conferees met in September, the Westar provision had appeared in the conference report and Representatives Barton, Tauzin, and DeLay voted against stripping it from the bill.[26]

• In connection to the Westar incident, the House Ethics Committee admonished then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) for holding an energy company golf fundraiser on June 2-3, 2002 at the Homestead Resort, the same period the energy conference committee in the 107^th Congress was beginning to meet. As not only the Majority Leader, but also as a House energy bill conferee, the Ethics Committee found that the Homestead event too closely linked DeLay's fundraising activities with a specific piece of legislation in which the companies attending the fundraiser had a great interest.[27] DeLay also led the effort to protect manufacturers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from liability when their products polluted the drinking water of communities around the country.[28] Taking advantage of an unfunded mandates rule, Democrats forced the House to vote against this liability protection, but Republicans stuck with the MTBE producers and defeated the motion.[29]

• The 1,100-page Energy Bill conference report in the 108^th Congress that was jammed through the House but blocked in the Senate included the now-infamous "greenbonds initiative," which turned out to be a subsidy to build a Hooters restaurant in Chairman Billy Tauzin's (R-LA) home state of Louisiana. This hidden subsidy caused some critics to dub the bill "Hooters for Polluters."[30] A number of conservative groups, including the National Taxpayers Union and the American Conservative Union, opposed this conference report because it was "chock full of subsidies, pork barrel projects, and unnecessary spending that have little, if anything to do with our nation's energy needs."[31]

Table 2

h.r. 6 - energy policy act of 2005

The following amendments were submitted to the Rules Committee,[32] but not made in order by the rule, H. Res. 219 (reported on 4/19/05):

Bartlett (R-MD)
Extends the tax deduction for buying a new "clean-fuel" vehicle (i.e. hybrid). As it stands, this tax incentive would be reduced by 50% next year and would run out completely the following year. With the adoption of this amendment, it would extend the time frame for 100% of the tax credit through December 31, 2008, and would incrementally reduce by 25% until entirely phased out by January 1, 2012. Within this amendment's span of 6 years, manufacturers should be able to increase production of hybrid vehicles to 80,000 domestically, at which point it would then be viable to eliminate the tax credit.

Berkley (D-NV)
Includes the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in the Nuclear Security study outlined in Title VI, Subtitle D, Sec. 661.

Calvert (R-CA)
Provides that the Department of Defense must have a role in the authorization process and provide concurrence before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provides final authorization for siting our nation's LNG facilities.

Capps (D-CA)
Strikes the safe harbor provision for MTBE; strikes the transition assistance for MTBE manufacturers; and speeds up the national phaseout of MTBE to 4 years from date of enactment.

Carnahan (D-MO)
The amendment is a multi-year tax credit for hybrid vehicles. The credit covers cars and light trucks, and applies to both manufacturers and consumers.

Davis, Jim (D-FL)
Strikes section 330, "Appeals Relating to Pipeline Construction or Offshore Mineral Development Projects."

Davis, Tom (R-VA)
Requires that a small percentage of the energy used to power federal facilities comes from renewable energy and fuel cells. Permits federal agencies to count acquisitions of future technology vehicles, such as fuel efficient hybrid-electric or fuel cell vehicles, against alternative fuel vehicle acquisition targets.

DeFazio (D-OR)
Adds "Sense of Congress" language to the bill that "strongly urges" the President to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization against OPEC for violating the rules of the WTO by colluding to set production quotas.

DeFazio (D-OR)
Strikes the section of the bill directing FERC to establish "incentive-based" rates for building transmission.

DeFazio (D-OR)
Current law provides that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may be drawn down in the event of a "severe energy supply disruption," which results in "a major adverse impact on the national economy." The amendment would add "or on a State or regional economy," after "national economy."

DeFazio (D-OR)
Adds "anticompetitive conduct" by foreign countries, or producers, refiners, or marketers of petroleum products, to the list of circumstances under which the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may be drawn down.

DeFazio (D-OR)
Strikes language in the underlying bill that would allow private property to be seized under eminent domain authority for the siting and construction of interstate electric transmission facilities.

Dingell (D-MI)
Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deter and punish fraud and manipulation in electricity and gas markets, increases penalties for Federal Power Act violations, authorizes FERC to refund all electricity overcharges, does not repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), and directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to review utility holding companies' status under PUHCA to prevent them from wrongly claiming exemptions. The amendment retains a number of valuable provisions from Title XII, such as "open access" for public power entities, and does not modify the "native load" provision adopted in the Energy and Commerce Committee. The amendment retains Title XII's electric transmission provision, but strikes the caps on spending to implement this reform.

Dingell (D-MI)/Boehlert (R-NY)/Udall (D-NM)
Restores fairness to the hydroelectric relicensing provisions of the bill by insuring that all parties to a licensing proceeding are entitled to a trial-type hearing for any issues of disputed material fact and that all parties may offer alternative conditions and prescriptions that must be accepted under certain conditions. Allows the resources Secretaries to consolidate multiple requests for trial-type hearings. Directs the resource Secretaries in the case of multiple alternatives to choose the alternative that is best suited to the relevant standards in the Federal Power Act.

E.B. Johnson (D-TX)
Requires the owner or operator of any facility engaged in manufacturing cement, petroleum-based products, or other chemical products and that is classified under the Clean Air Act as a major or minor source of any criteria air pollutant, or as a source of any hazardous air pollutant, shall conduct a survey of each such facility's progress over the preceding twelve months in permanently reducing its emissions of criteria and hazardous air pollutants such to aid surrounding and downwind areas in: (1) Attaining and maintaining the national ambient air quality standards; (2) Implementing and complying with provisions of the applicable state implementation plan or federal implementation plan; and (3) Complying with the Clean Air Act provisions relating to the reduction of hazardous air pollution.

E.B. Johnson (D-TX)/Allen (D-ME)
Strikes section 1443 of H.R. 6. Under the existing Act, areas that have unhealthy air are required to reduce ozone-forming smog pollution by set statutory deadlines. Section 1443 would delay the set statutory deadlines.

Engel (D-NY)
Strikes the dual-fuel program in its current form and instead instructs the DOT/NHTSA to issue CAFE credits to dual-fuel automakers' fleets proportionally to the percentage of total fuel used by cars each year that is from alternative sources. These credits would be determined by the DOT/NHTSA at the beginning of each year based on fuel data from the preceding 12 months.

Filner (D-CA)
Prohibits the issuance of permits for the transmission of electricity into the United States from power plants within 25 miles of the U.S. border that do not comply with all requirements that would be applicable if the plant were located in the nearest U.S. air quality region.

Filner (D-CA)
Extends for three years the tax credit for electricity produced from geothermal energy.

Flake (R-AZ)
Strikes all of the subsidies and grants in the bill.

Ford (D-TN)
Extends the federal production tax credit for various technologies such as wind, refined coal, geothermal and biomass, for another four years. Extends the length of the tax credit for alternative sources of energy like geothermal technology for 10 years from the date on which the facility was originally placed in service (rather than the current 5 years).

Gilchrest (R-MD)
Strikes section 328. Section 328 gives a permanent exemption from Clean Water Act stormwater runoff rules for the construction of exploration and production facilities by oil and gas companies and the roads to service those sites.

Gilchrest (R-MD)
Requires the development of a National Climate Change Strategy, with the goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere.

Hastings (D-FL)
Provides a $250 non-refundable tax credit ($500 for joint filers) to individuals with an adjusted gross income of $25,000 or less and families with an adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less if the cost of a gallon of gasoline over a taxable year has increased from the previous year by more than twice the rate of inflation. Credit will increase annually at an amount equal to the rate of inflation.

Hastings (D-FL)
Requires the Secretaries of Energy, Transportation, and Interior and the Administrator of the EPA to consider and take necessary steps to ensure that the effects of any provision(s) or any subsequent regulation(s) under H.R. 6 do not have an adversely negative effect on the health and well-being of minority, low-income, and all underserved communities.

Holt (D-NJ)/Blumenaeur (D-OR)
Requires the Secretary of Energy, within 1 year of enactment, to report to Congress on best practices in energy savings through land use and development planning, including evaluation of land use and development codes and ordinances that aim to reduce vehicle miles traveled and save energy, evaluation of software and design tools, and evaluation of best practices in incorporation of renewable and distributed energy generation in community development plans.

Inglis (R-SC)
Enacts a clear vision for achieving a hydrogen economy in ten years. Invests over ten years with clearly defined goals and a strong emphasis on letting the market pull the technology through use of practical demonstrations.

Inslee (D-WA)
Amends section 1286 to add an alternative test in the case of market manipulation.

Inslee (D-WA)
Amendment in the nature of a substitute. Uses new and innovative tax incentives and market based assistance, coupled with performance standards, to develop and commercialize new technologies to ensure that the country decreases its reliance on foreign oil, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and cultivates a domestic clean energy manufacturing base.

Israel (D-NY)/Crowley (D-NY)
Offers a tax credit of up to $2500 per year (no sunset) for energy conservation expenditures in residences. The amendment lists specific items that can be claimed for the deduction and grants authority to the Secretary of Energy to approve unlisted conservation expenditures.

Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Directs the Secretary of Energy to study and evaluate the availability of natural gas and oil deposits located off the coast of Louisiana and Texas at existing drilling sites. The assessment would allow an inventory of existing oil and gas supplies and an evaluation of techniques or processes that may exist in keeping those wells protected.

Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Proposes to give Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS's), and Community Colleges an opportunity to develop their existing programs in the area of alternative energy technologies on the basis of and in accordance with Executive Order 13256.

Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Establishes price controls for certain fuels and includes a Sense of Congress about the need for an investigation on the causes of high gasoline prices.

Kirk (R-IL)
Adds a "Sense of Congress" that the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency should reform regulations to move the Nation to one form of clean-burning gasoline that meets all Federal air quality standards.

Kucinich (D-OH)
Implements a windfall profit tax on gasoline and diesel fuels. Any revenue generated goes to a $6000 tax credit for purchases of an ultra efficient vehicle made in America and federal grants for reduced mass transit fares to subsidize these fares during times of gas price spikes.

Langevin (D-RI)
Permits the Secretary of Energy to use any supplies in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in excess of 700 million barrels to address sustained price increases in gasoline or oil that could have an adverse impact on the nation's economy. Expands that authority for cases when price increases were not attributable to a shortage, such as international volatility, a major shift in demand, or a decline in refining capacity.

Millender-McDonald (D-CA)
Establishes an Automotive Technician Workers Training Program that will provide funding to train automotive technicians to work on hybrids, hydrogen, and alternative fuel technologies in the new automobile fleets sold in the US.

Oberstar (D-MN)
Strikes section 328, which permanently exempts certain oil and gas construction activities from the requirements of the Clean Water Act.

Peterson (R-PA)
Provides that the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct an inventory and analysis of the natural gas resources under the Federal Outer Continental Shelf. Requires the Secretary to identify and explain how legislative, regulatory, and administrative programs restrict or impede resource development. Provides that the Secretary will make recommendations for achieving a more balanced and environmentally sound energy policy for the OCS.

Pryce (R-OH)/Bachus (R-AL)
Addresses the disclosure of information by electric utilities. Provides the FTC with the authority to prohibit the sale of goods and services by the electric utility to the consumer.

Rahall (D-WV)
Strikes Title XXI which eliminates provisions of law which require certain federal coal resources be made available on a competitive basis.

Renzi (R-AZ)/Udall (D-NM)/Matheson (D-UT)
Extends the Navajo Electrification Demonstration program by 5 years to 2011 in order to provide electricity to every household on the Navajo Nation.

Ruppersberger (D-MD)
Repeals the phase-out of the existing hybrid motor vehicle tax credit so that 100% of the credit can be claimed though 2009.

Sanders (I-VT)
Requires the President to immediately suspend deliveries of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and release 1 million barrels of oil per day from SPR for 30 days following the date of enactment, and if necessary, for an additional 30 days after that to reduce the price of gas.

Sanders (I-VT)
Provides a 30% tax credit for wind energy property installed in residences and businesses.

Shays (R-CT)/Markey (D-MA)
Sets governmental energy efficiency standards on retail electricity and natural gas suppliers. Also establishes a credit-exchange system. The Secretary of Energy will establish a nation-wide credit and credit trading system for electricity and natural gas savings.

Simmons (R-CT)
Changes the effective date of the Fuels Safe Harbor provision (Sec. 1502) that protects renewable fuel or MTBE manufacturers from liability based on a claim of defective product from September 5, 2003 to November 8, 2003.

Slaughter (D-NY)
Prohibits the practice of zone pricing and insures a free and open retail gasoline market.

Strickland (D-OH)
Strikes two provisions in the bill limiting funding for protection of the nation's electric grid. Would allow the new Electric Reliability Organization (authorized in the bill) to collect sufficient fees annually to ensure that necessary reliability standards are developed and enforced.

Stupak (D-MI)
Prohibits any Federal or state permit or lease for new oil or gas slant, directional, or offshore drilling in or under the Great Lakes.

Stupak (D-MI)
Focuses on prevention of groundwater contamination and costly cleanups from MTBE and other petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks by requiring new and replacement underground storage tank systems to be secondarily contained when located in close proximity to drinking water wells or sensitive areas designated by the state such as sole source drinking aquifers. Also eliminates the new federal financial responsibility requirements imposed by Section 1530 on tank manufacturers and installers.

Udall (D-CO)
Would require that retail electricity suppliers (except for municipal and cooperative utilities) obtain 15% of their power production from a portfolio of renewable energy resources by 2020 and within 5 years add an additional 5% so that by 2020, 20% of retail electricity suppliers' power production would be derived from a portfolio of renewable energy resources.

Udall (D-NM) /Wamp (R-TN)
Extends the income tax credit allowed for the production of electricity from qualified facilities for 2 years, through January 1, 2008. Qualified facilities comprise wind energy, closed- and open-loop biomass, geothermal, solar energy, small irrigation power, landfill gas, and trash combustion facilities. The credit applies to property placed in service after December 31, 2005.

Udall (D-NM) /Wamp (R-TN)
Allows fleet managers to comply with Energy Policy Act alternative fuel fleet requirements using hybrid electric vehicles, medium and heavy duty trucks that use an alternative fuel, or other measures to reduce petroleum use.

Wamp (R-TN)
Increases the business solar tax credit from 10% to 15% extended for 5 years instead of 2 years and a 10% tax credit thereafter. Extends the residential solar tax credit also at 15% from 2 to 5 years.

Wamp (R-TN)
Extends the current tax credit of 10% of vehicle purchase cost up to $4,000 for qualified electric vehicles and the current tax deduction of $2,000 for passenger vehicles, $5,000 for heavy-duty vehicles up to 26,000 pounds, and $50,000 for the heaviest vehicles for clean-fuel vehicles until December 31, 2008, phasing-out on December 31, 2007.

Weiner (D-NY)
Expands eligibility of the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to include households headed by seniors who live on less than the median income in their state.

Wu (D-OR)
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the phaseout of the tax credit for qualified electric vehicles; (2) repeal the phaseout of the tax deduction for qualified clean-fuel vehicle property; and (3) exempt new qualified hybrid motor vehicles from the limitations on the depreciation of luxury automobiles.

Wu (D-OR)
Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to include hybrid vehicles in the Federal Fleet requirement.

###

[1]  EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook, 2/7/06, available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html

[2]  Set America Free Coalition, "Open Letter to the American People," available at: http://www.setamericafree.org/openletter.htm.

[3]  Simon Romero and Edmund Andrews, "At Exxon Mobil, a Record Profit but No Fanfare," New York Times, 1/31/06.

[4]  Edmund L. Andrews, "As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas Rights," New York Times, 1/23/06.

[5]  Edmund L. Andrews, "U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies: $7 Billion Over Five Years," New York Times, 2/14/06.

[6]  Joseph Kahn, "Bush Advisers On Energy Report Ties To Industry," New York Times, 6/3/01.

[7]  Don Van Natta Jr. and Neela Banerjee, "Top GOP Donors in Energy Industry Met Cheney Panel," New York Times," 3/1/02.

[8]  Dana Milbank and Justin Blum, "Document Says Oil Chiefs Met with Cheney Task Force," Washington Post, 11/16/2005.

[9]  Lowell Bergman and Jeff Gerth, "Power Trader Tied to Bush Finds Washington All Ears," New York Times, 5/25/01.

[10]  Marc Lifsher, "Trader's Effect Felt Powerfully in the West," Los Angeles Times, 1/30/06.

[11]  Seth Borenstein, and Linda J. Johnson, "Under Bush, Mine-Safety Enforcement Eased," Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/8/06.

[12]  Joe Scarborough, "Scarborough Country," MSNBC Transcript, 1/10/06, 10:00 PM EST.

[13] Rick Weiss, "Report Critical of Interior Official; Inspector General Calls Deputy Secretary's Dealings With Companies Troubling," Washington Post, 3/17/04.

[14]  John Aloysius Farrell, "A Fox in Interior's Henhouse," Denver Post, 4/4/2004.

[15] Andrew C. Revkin, "Bush Aide Edited Climate Reports," New York Times, 6/8/05.

[16] Andrew C. Revkin, "White House Calls Editing Climate Files Part of Usual Review," New York Times, 6/9/05.

[17] Andrew C. Revkin, "Former Bush Aide Who Edited Reports is Hired by Exxon," New York Times, 6/15/05.

[18] Andrew C. Revkin, "Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him, New York Times, 1/30/06.

[19]  Andrew C. Revkin, "Lawmaker Condemns NASA Over Scientist's Accusations of Censorship," New York Times, 1/31/06.

[20]  Andrew C. Revkin, "NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness," New York Times, 2/4/06.

[21] Eric Pianin, "Proposed Mercury Rules Bear Industry Mark; EPA Language Similar to That in Memos From Law Firm Representing Utilities," Washington Post, 1/31/04.

[22] Eric Pianin, "EPA Led Mercury Policy Shift; Agency Scuttled Task Force That Advised Tough Approach," Washington Post, 12/30/03.

[23] This analysis is available at:  http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/pceb/index.html

[24] Tom Hamburger and Alan C. Miller, "A Changing Landscape; Halliburton's Interests Assisted by White House," Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04.

[25]  This provision can be found in section 302 of the bill that became law (P.L. 109-58).

[26]  Thomas B. Edsall and Juliet Eilperin, "Democrats, Group Seek Probe of GOP, Westar," Washington Post, 6/7/03.

[27]  The Committee's letter to Delay is available at: http://www.house.gov/ethics/DeLay_Cover.htm

[28] Alexei Barrienuevo, "A Dirty Little Footnote to the Energy Bill," New York Times, 4/15/05.

[29]  Roll call vote # 129, 4/21/05.

[30]  Susan Milligan, "Senators See Corporate Favors in Contentious Energy Bill," Boston Globe, 11/21/03.

[31]  Letter available at: http://www.taxpayer.net/energy/pdf/energybillletter.pdf.

[32] Summaries taken from the Rules Committee website, http://www.rules.house.gov/109/amendsumm/109amnd_hr6.htm