[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 6, ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005

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                               speech of

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 28, 2005

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, Congress had the opportunity 
and the charge to develop a comprehensive energy policy that would make 
America safer, decrease our dependency on foreign oil, and invest in 
the next generation of clean and renewable energy.
  Unfortunately, H.R. 6 fails the current and future needs of our 
Nation miserably. As gas prices and oil industry profits rise, this 
bill rewards oil and gas companies with $2.8 billion in tax breaks and 
provides $1.4 billion in tax breaks for coal producers. These corporate 
giveaways only continue our addiction to Middle Eastern oil and enable 
our dependency on old and polluting technologies.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. needs to be a world leader in energy self-
sufficiency through conservation, alternative energy sources, and 
responsible leadership from the White House and Congress. Regrettably, 
this bill fails on all those counts. It neglects to include a Renewable 
Portfolio Standard, which would have required large electric companies 
to obtain 10 percent of their power from clean renewable energy sources 
by 2020. This act, once again, fails to increase much-needed fuel 
efficiency standards of cars and trucks.
  As if this bill was not already bad enough, a new provision appeared 
after the conference committee had adjourned, which steers $1.5 billion 
to a private consortium located in the home district of Republican 
Majority Leader Tom DeLay. It provides that the consortium, of which 
Halliburton is a member, can keep up to 10 percent of the funds for 
administrative purposes. This is an outrage and a mockery of the 
democratic process.
  America deserves a comprehensive energy policy that invests in the 
development of the next generation of fuel sources like fuel cells, 
hydrogen power and home grown Minnesota fuels like ethanol. I was 
pleased to see the measure tripling the amount of ethanol required in 
gasoline by 2012, but this bill could have done so much more to 
liberate our Nation from Saudi Arabian and Middle Eastern oil and move 
our Nation toward a sustainable and energy-independent future.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an energy bill for 1950, not 2050. It would have 
been difficult to support this outmoded policy decades ago, and I 
certainly cannot vote for it today.

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