DeGette Supports Key Energy Bills

WASHINGTON – Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) supported three key pieces of energy legislation today, joining a strong majority in the House who are taking action to bring down gas prices and meet our national goal of becoming energy independent.   The bills sought to affect three aspects of the problem: spurring domestic energy production, encouraging energy efficiency and conservation, and directing regulators to hold Wall Street accountable for any excessive price speculation that may have occurred, inflating the price of oil in commodities markets.

“There are no easy solutions to the current energy crisis in America,” said DeGette. “A gross failure of Republican leadership over the past decade has resulted in record prices for people and record profits for Big Oil. As gas prices continue to rise, the House is taking swift action to help consumers at the gas pump.”

The Energy Markets Emergency Act directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to curb immediately the role of excessive oil speculation in any contract market within its jurisdiction and control. It also directs the CFTC to use its authority to eliminate excessive speculation, price distortion, sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in prices.

While H.R. 6251, the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act, received the support of a majority in the House, it fell short of the 2/3rds required for passage.  The bill would have established a ‘use it or lose it’ policy for existing oil and gas leases.  Oil companies currently have 86 million acres of land for oil production - an estimated 81 percent of America’s oil reserves – but they have not developed this land.  H.R. 6251 would have directed oil companies to drill these lands and increase domestic production, or risk losing their leases to a company that will. None of the Republicans in the Colorado Delegation voted for the bill.

If Americans could transition just ten percent of their automobile use to public transportation, it would save the equivalent of every drop of oil we import from Saudi Arabia.  The Saving Energy through Public Transportation Act, H.R. 6052, provides critical support to the nation’s systems of public transportation particularly in encouraging such systems to use alternative fuels. 

“The combination of increased domestic energy production and gains in efficiency and conservation are the way not only out of our current crisis, but to long-term energy sustainability as well,” Congresswoman DeGette argued. “The Bush-McCain energy plan may be good for oilmen, but there is a new Sherriff in town and we intend to put the needs of the American people first.”