[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE NECESSITY OF AN ENERGY BILL

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2004

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from February 6, 2004, Omaha World-Herald.
  While the energy bill conference report is obviously not perfect--it 
contains excesses and too much parochial pork-barrel--the legislation 
would provide many important improvements over the current situation. 
Among its beneficial provisions, the measure is designed to improve the 
nation's electricity transmission capacity and reliability. It also 
supports alternative power sources and promotes a cleaner environment. 
As the editorial indicates, the conference report can be improved in 
certain ways while retaining its beneficial provisions.
  It is imperative for Congress to pass a sensible long-term energy 
policy which will help assure Americans of development of diverse, 
reliable, affordable energy sources with an emphasis on energy 
conservation. After years of inaction, this Member believes that it is 
absolutely essential to enact comprehensive energy legislation. It is 
overdue.

              [From the Omaha World-Herald, Feb. 6, 2004]

                         Thawing Energy Policy

       Signs of movement are appearing in Congress' deadlock over 
     a comprehensive energy bill.
       The $31 billion bill passed the House but fell two votes 
     shy of breaking a filibuster in the Senate last November. The 
     bill was a mixed bag, containing needed electrical-grid 
     improvements and tax breaks and incentives for alternative 
     energy sources, including a doubling of the nation's ethanol 
     production. But it also would have rolled back some air and 
     water pollution standards and was bloated with more than $11 
     billion in tax breaks and favors to gain votes.
       Among the objectionable provisions was liability protection 
     for makers of the gasoline additive MTBE. That would shift to 
     state and local governments the estimated $29 billion cost of 
     cleaning groundwater contaminated by MTBE.
       Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, 
     said he'll drop that provision. Good. It's an outrageous 
     provision, but killing it will need the agreement of the 
     House, where it still has strong backing from Majority Leader 
     Tom DeLay.
       Also likely to be cut in negotiations is the bill's 
     exorbitant cost--more than half of which was targeted to 
     existing oil, gas, coal and nuclear power production.
       The electric-grid and ethanol proposals, fortunately, 
     appear likely to emerge in either a slimmed-down energy bill 
     or as separate proposals.
       But the energy bill had many other provisions aimed at 
     making a start (a small one, but a start nonetheless) on 
     setting a new course for the nation's energy policies: tax 
     breaks for alternative-fuel vehicles; tax credits for 
     consumer-level energy-efficiency measures; tax credits for 
     power plant investments in clean coal technology.
       These are the important provisions for Congress to 
     safeguard as compromises are sought to pass this vital 
     legislation. (The fact that compromises are finally being 
     openly discussed, after a Republican-only conference 
     committee cooked up the current bill behind closed doors, is 
     a victory all its own for political debate.)
       The chance to plot such a course change for the nation's 
     energy policy is an opportunity not to be missed. We're glad 
     to see it's now open to reasonable compromise.

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