[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 175 (Monday, December 17, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13352-S13354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today to address the impact of 
our existing energy policies on America's environment and public 
health.
  Energy touches every aspect of our lives, from the fuels that heat 
our homes and businesses, to the electricity that powers our lights, to 
the electricity that powers our lights, to the gasoline that runs our 
cars, airplanes and other forms of transportation.
  Unfortunately, our current energy use comes at a price.
  We are heavily dependent on oil imported from politically unstable 
areas of the world. Vehicle emissions are one of the major air 
pollutants, yet our vehicle fuel efficiency standards have been at a 
virtual standstill for more than a decade, and we have made very little 
movement toward real use of alternative, nonpetroleum fueled vehicles.
  Emissions from our Nation's power plants degrade air quality, pollute 
our water, and contribute a whopping 40 percent of our national carbon 
dioxide emissions, the main cause of global warming. We in the 
Northeast live downwind from virtually the entire Nation. Pollution 
from many of the Nation's most industrialized regions makes its way to 
my State, bringing acid rain that is destroying Vermont's forests and 
lakes, and mercury that is contaminating our fish. Regional haze 
significantly reduces visibility in the Northeast, diminishing views in 
the Green Mountains and across our beautiful Lake Champlain, and 
affecting other of our most scenic natural areas.
  So I have a very personal interest in how energy is used and 
developed in this country.
  As chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I also 
have a very strong interest in how energy use affects our national air 
quality, water quality, and wildlife. I am concerned about emissions 
that cause global warming, and that harm our natural environment and 
the health of our children, our seniors and those who suffer from 
respiratory diseases.
  We must also manage to have affordable energy without having to 
destroy pristine natural areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge.
  Nuclear energy is also an important component of our energy mix. We 
must find ways to deal with the environmental and public health risks 
associated with production, storage and disposal of nuclear energy. We 
must also thoroughly and quickly address facility security, an issue of 
compelling concern for nuclear as well as chemical plants following the 
attacks of September 11.
  As chairman of the Senate EPW Committee, I have held numerous 
hearings on these issues. I have also introduced legislation that would 
mandate strict emissions standards and create incentives for the use of 
clean, alternative power. I have introduced legislation that would 
provide tax incentives to support alternative fuel and new technology 
vehicles. And I have introduced legislation to promote alternative 
energy sources through the use of renewable energy trading credits, 
through the establishment of matching funds to States to promote energy 
efficiency programs and through net metering which gives consumers 
credit for their own production of solar or wind energy.
  I will continue to review emissions from the electricity and 
transportation sectors and related air, water and human health concerns 
in the EPW Committee in the upcoming session.
  I wish to express my strong commitment to continuing to work with 
Senator Daschle and Senator Bingaman on legislation to advance our 
national energy policy in the right direction. I congratulate them on 
introduction of

[[Page S13353]]

S. 1766, the Energy Policy Act of 2001. This comprehensive energy 
package sends a strong message about our need to achieve energy 
efficiency, and to diversify into clean, domestically produced 
renewable energy.
  I applaud my colleagues for stepping forward on these issues. It is 
imperative that we create a national energy policy that will provide 
adequate and affordable energy supplies, but will leave a heritage of 
clean air, clean water and pristine wild places, while also reducing 
harmful carbon emissions that destabilize our global climate. Senators 
Daschle and Bingaman and their staffs have put in long hours to make 
this a consensus bill, and I commend them for their leadership on these 
complex issues.
  Certainly there is much to support in the Daschle/Bingaman 
legislation.
  I thank them for including a modified version of S. 950, the Federal 
Reformulated Fuels Act, a bill that was approved by the Senate 
Environment and Public Works Committee earlier this year. That 
inclusion should help reduce MTBE contamination of water supplies and 
enhance fuel suppliers' flexibility in meeting market demand. That part 
of the bill also includes a provision to grow the renewables share of 
the transportation fuels market. That benefits the environment and 
reduces our petroleum dependency.
  I am glad to see provisions in the Daschle/Bingaman bill allowing 
those who generate wind, solar and other clean renewable energies to 
connect to the energy grid, and to receive credit for their renewables 
generation through net metering. These provisions are essential for 
allowing entry of renewable technologies into the market. While some 
issues in these provisions still need to be worked out, I strongly 
support addressing them in comprehensive energy legislation.
  I also support the bill's provisions on efficiency standards for 
homes, schools and public buildings, as well as the efficiency 
standards for appliances and other consumer and commercial products.
  I support the provisions that fund additional research and 
development for expanding our energy efficiency technologies, for 
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and for promoting renewable energy.
  Having long been a champion of energy assistance to low-income 
families, I applaud the provisions which increase funding for the Low 
Income Home Energy Assistance Programs, LIHEAP, the Weatherization 
Assistance Program and the State Energy Programs. Price spikes in home 
heating fuels hit low-income consumers the hardest. We should give 
strong support to these programs which help families pay their bills, 
and which address the underlying energy efficiency problems associated 
with high energy costs such as better airsealing, insulation, and 
furnace and cooling replacements.
  The Daschle/Bingaman legislation also sets us on a path to seriously 
address global climate change. The bill directs the development of a 
comprehensive energy research and development strategy to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions. it incorporates a sense-of-the-Senate 
resolution urging the administration to re-engage constructively on 
international negotiations on climate change. And, the legislation 
creates a mandatory greenhouse gas emission reporting and registry 
system.
  For all its good provisions, however, the bill has several serious 
shortcomings. These shortcomings must be addressed if we are to meet 
our obligation for a clean, effective and responsible energy policy.
  The renewable energy portfolio standard in the bill falls well below 
what is technologically achievable. In so doing, it fails to capitalize 
on the very realistic goal of significantly diversifying our energy 
supply with clean, domestic resources.
  Consistent with my longstanding interest in renewable energy, in 
August of this year I introduced S. 1333, which sets a renewable 
portfolio standard, or RPS, of 20 percent by the year 2020.
  An RPS is a market-based mechanism that uses tradable ``renewable 
energy credits'' to enable utilities to gradually increase the 
percentage of electricity produced from renewables such as wind, 
biomass, geothermal and solar energy. Twelve States, including Texas, 
have successfully enacted RPS requirements.
  The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration 
estimates that an RPS providing 20 percent of U.S. electricity from 
wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy by 2020 would raise consumer 
electricity prices by only 0.7 percent in 2010, and by 2020, total 
consumer electric bills would actually be declining with an RPS. Yet, 
the Daschle/Bingaman bill imposes a requirement of only 10 percent by 
2020.
  I note that even this 10 percent is a vast improvement over existing 
proposals. The administration to date has refused to endorse any RPS, 
despite successful introduction of an RPS in Texas and other States. HR 
4, the House-passed energy bill, contains no RPS. Instead, HR 4 directs 
approximately $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies to traditional oil, gas 
and coal production. This is both unwise and unacceptable.
  It is essential that this Congress reverse the trend of overreliance 
on fossil fuels, a trend that weakens our national security and limits 
economic and technological opportunities in the energy and commercial 
sectors. Like most of my colleagues, I too believe we must decrease our 
dangerous addiction to foreign oil. However, this will not be 
accomplished by spending billions of dollars on subsidies to promote 
the status quo. In a world where the U.S. is 56-percent dependent upon 
foreign imports, but holds only 3 percent of the oil reserves, we are 
foolish at best to undervalue emerging renewable technologies. I will 
continue to work in the upcoming session with my colleagues and the 
administration to raise our commitment to wind, solar and other clean 
and domestically produced renewable energy by enacting a strong 
renewable portfolio standard.
  I am encouraged by provisions in S. 1731, the farm bill being 
considered on the floor this week, that will provide mandatory spending 
to promote the expanded use and production of renewable energy in the 
agricultural sector.
  The bill provides grants to farmers, ranchers and small businesses to 
convert biomass into fuels, chemicals and other products. It also 
finances the purchase of renewable energy technologies such as windmill 
turbines. It provides specific financial aid to rural electric coops 
and utilities to aid in the development of renewable energy, and 
requires Federal agencies to purchase biobased products.
  These are types of creative measures needed to strengthen renewable 
energy in this country.
  Comprehensive energy legislation must also address global climate 
change. Fossil fuel combustion accounts for more than 85 percent of 
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
  While the Daschle/Bingaman bill does have many sound provisions 
addressing global climate change, I am deeply concerned that 
administration of the greenhouse gas database is not placed with the 
EPA. EPA is clearly the agency most qualified and appropriate to run 
this program. No other agency has the experience with air emissions 
data or the capability to run such a program more effectively. The 
Agency already collects detailed carbon dioxide emissions information 
from the utility sector, and leads the Federal agencies in preparation 
of the national inventory, pursuant to the Global Climate Protection 
Act of 1987 and other authorities. Placing this responsibility 
elsewhere in the Federal bureaucracy seems duplicative and illogical.

  The Daschle/Bingaman Energy Policy Act of 2001 also leaves out 
several key provisions which are essential to a balanced energy policy. 
These include a public benefits trust fund, tax incentives for energy 
efficiency and renewable energy technologies, and updated CAFE, or 
corporate average fuel economy, standards. It is my understanding that 
it is the leader's intention to include provisions in all three areas 
before the bill comes to the floor.
  A public benefits trust fund is necessary to provide local funding 
for clean energy programs, and to encourage energy efficiency in the 
electricity system. My bill, S. 1333, would establish a State matching 
grant program. Eligible areas on which the States can spend the grants 
include energy efficient programs; investments in promising renewable 
energy technologies; low-income energy assistance; and universal access 
to the transmission grid. I urge Senate Daschle to include a

[[Page S13354]]

similar provision in any final energy package, along with other tax 
incentive programs for promoting renewables and energy efficiency.
  As to CAFE standards, it almost goes without saying that improving 
the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks is of the highest priority. 
The National Academy of Sciences tells us what we already know, which 
is that improving fuel efficiency will save consumers money, cut 
greenhouse gas emissions and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. 
Efficiency in both cars and trucks, and in the electricity sector, are 
essential to cutting emissions and addressing global warming.
  As chairman of the Environment Committee, the environmental and 
public health impacts of emissions are on the top of my list of 
concerns. I will be considering legislation that would cap greenhouse 
gas emissions from the transportation sector, which is responsible for 
approximately one-third of U.S. emissions.
  I look forward to working with Senators Daschle and Bingaman and my 
other colleagues to ensure strong provisions in the energy package to 
address these issues.
  I also note that S. 1766 contains provisions that would exempt 
hydraulic fracturing, a natural gas production technique, from 
regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Legislation proposing 
this has been referred to the EPW Committee, and I intend to hold 
hearings on this matter at the earliest possible time in the upcoming 
session. Once the EPW Committee has acted on this matter, it is likely 
I will have amendments to propose to this provision.
  S. 1776 also reauthorizes the Department of Energy contractor 
provisions of the Price Anderson Act. The EPW Committee will be holding 
hearings early in the session on Price Anderson reauthorization of 
commercial nuclear powerplants licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, as well as on security at nuclear powerplants. Senator Reid 
and I will work with the leader on appropriate language to be included 
in any energy package debated on the floor.

                          ____________________