[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 49 (Thursday, April 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4050-S4051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Bingaman, and Ms. 
        Cantwell):
  S. 2311. A bill to provide for various energy efficiency programs and 
tax incentives, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today, along with Senators 
Feinstein, Bingaman, and Cantwell, to introduce the Efficient Energy 
through Certified Technologies and Electricity Reliability Act, or 
EFFECTER Act of 2004. This legislation is urgently needed to help 
prevent the painful disruption of electric power blackouts, to save 
American consumers billions of dollars in wasted energy costs, to 
create jobs, and eventually, to avoid the needless emission of more 
greenhouse gas pollution than comes from our Nation's entire automotive 
fleet. According to a vast majority of the international scientific 
community, these anthropogenic, or manmade gases, especially carbon 
dioxide, are triggering dramatic changes in the Earth's climate system.
  This legislation will increase the security and reliability of the 
electric grid, while reducing natural gas and electricity prices though 
a gradual reduction in demand. Targeted tax incentives and standards 
for energy efficiency in commercial buildings, both new and 
retrofitted, will support the reduction in demand, as will the 
construction of new and retrofitted homes, including rental housing, 
and the use of more energy efficient appliances.
  Last March 4, 2003, I introduced, along with Senator Feinstein and 
others, the EFFECT Act of 2003, legislation that provided tax 
incentives for advanced levels of energy efficiency and peak power 
savings technologies in the buildings in which we live, work, and 
learn. Buildings consume some 35 percent of energy nationwide and are 
responsible for the emissions of a comparable percentage of pollution; 
very importantly, they account for more than one-half of the Nation's 
energy cost. I am pleased that many of these provisions were 
incorporated into the Senate energy bill that passed the Senate last 
fall, as I believe incentives provided through the tax system are 
necessary to complement existing energy efficiency policies at the 
Federal and State levels.

[[Page S4051]]

  The EFFECTER Act of 2004 that we are introducing today goes even 
further to encourage the EFFECT Act's tax incentives provided in the 
Senate's energy bill. It encourages administrative improvements, cost-
efficiencies, and it also reflects a number of consensus provisions 
from H.R. 6, the Omnibus Energy Conference Report. These provisions 
mirror simple, common sense solutions, such as the mandatory 
electricity reliability provisions that have been held hostage to the 
ineffective ideas in the energy bill for some 4 years. We provide 
requirements for electric generating and transmission companies that 
encourage them to cooperate with each other on a mandatory basis, 
since--as we discovered last summer--relying on ``a gentleman's 
agreement'' doesn't work.
  The legislation also includes the Energy Savings Performance 
Contracts program, whose authorization expired in October of 2003. The 
ESPC program promotes consensus energy efficiency standards and reforms 
in Government contracting that save the taxpayers money. This bill 
requires the Federal Government, through its agencies, to acquire the 
most cost-effective as well as energy efficient products and to design 
buildings that can also save the Government money. Through what many 
characterized as an arcane scoring method, the CBO had incorporated a 
$3 billion cost increase into the program. However, in its wisdom, the 
Senate, in the FY05 Budget Resolution, appropriately directed the ESPS 
to score at zero. The result is a zero cost to this provision.
  The EFFECTER Act of 2004 addresses some of our largest energy 
problems head-on. Its incentives for energy efficiency are more 
effective and expedient than those in the energy bills currently being 
debated, yet they cost less to the Government. Indeed, over the long-
term, they save the Federal Government money.
  Last August our country suffered a costly and harmful blackout that 
affected some 40 million Americans. Now, more than 6 months later, we 
have take little effective action to reduce the likelihood that 
additional blackouts could threaten lives and damage our economy again 
this year or any time in the near future. Our country currently has a 
need for more electric power plants, but we also need to protect our 
present electricity system from overload caused by wasted power use. By 
not pulling power from the grid at peak times in the next 10 years, the 
EFFECTER Act of 2004 will help America's building owners save more 
electricity--electriicty equivalent to the amount that would be 
produced by 350 new power plants of 400 MW capacity.
  Since last summer, natural gas and oil prices have skyrocketed. These 
high prices hurt Americans two ways: jobs are lost when high fuel 
prices force industry to cut back on production, and high heating bills 
strain family and business budgets. Saving wasted energy is one of the 
easiest and least costly ways to save money and save jobs. This 
legislation will save American families and business owners over $30 
billion dollars annually by 2015, and prevent the waste of over 3.3 
quads of natural gas annually--over 12 percent of total gas use.
  We all recognize the importance of increasing employment. Energy 
efficiency creates jobs both through manufacturing, designing and 
installing efficiency measures and through additional consumer and 
business spending--spending consumers can afford when their energy 
bills are lower. The EFFECTER Act of 2004 will produce over a half 
million new jobs in the American economy.
  As a Nation, we are engaged in a difficult debate about reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions, an effort we believe will protect the world's 
climate while assuring continued productivity for our economy. By 
reducing energy use that otherwise would be wasted in inefficient 
buildings, this legislation will reduce greenhouse gas pollution in an 
amount equivalent to the reduction that would occur if we took 25 
percent of the cars off America's roads.
  These energy, money, and pollution saving solutions focus first on 
promoting fast acting energy efficiency both for natural gas and for 
peak electricity, which in turn also contributes to natural gas demand. 
Dramatic energy savings can be obtained by a carefully crafted package 
of low cost market-based incentives and consensus efficiency standards. 
I believe we have crafted just such a package and I urge my colleagues 
to support this bipartisan bill that uses tested, performance-based and 
cost-effective approaches that truly help solve our most immediate 
energy problems.
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