[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1833-S1834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005

  Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I rise to speak about the great 
success of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. I recall when we passed the 
bill, you, Madam President, and everyone else were, in the well, very 
happy and joyous that we passed--after 15 or 20 years without one--a 
major energy bill. And then, right away, the next year, people wanted 
another energy bill. Now, this year, they want another one.
  I would like to tell the Senate why the bill we have is doing so much 
good and how and why there is still room to try to implement it and, in 
doing that, to do it a lot more without a new bill. We need a bill to 
cover some things we did not cover, but I would like to end this, with 
people understanding this bill provides many things we have not done 
and many things that have been very successful.
  First, I urge policy makers in the administration and Congress to 
commit themselves to investing time, energy, and economic resources to 
fully implement this important act. We must achieve all we envisioned 
in passing this comprehensive energy policy.
  This past week marked the 18-month anniversary of the enactment of 
the Energy Policy Act. I rise today to speak about the gains we have 
made in strengthening our Nation's energy security and the even greater 
promise that lies ahead.
  On August 8, 2005, the President of the United States signed the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 in my home State of New Mexico. This 
legislation is the catalyst of our Nation's nuclear renaissance and the 
driving force behind new investments in clean coal technology. Passage 
of the Energy bill also marks the genesis of a secure American 
electricity grid and the transformation of an agricultural enterprise 
into an energy industry.
  This act has helped strengthen our energy security, stimulate our 
economy, create American jobs, and diversify our Nation's fuel supply. 
Simply put, since the passage of the Energy bill, America is on the 
move. We are starting up a renewable fuels industry in America through 
the first ever renewable fuels standard and a production tax credit. 
These policies have helped create approximately 160,000 American jobs 
across almost all sectors of our Nation's economy.
  In the last 18 months, 73 new ethanol plants have broken ground, 
spurring us to exceed the biofuel mandate for 2006 by at least 800 
million gallons. As a result of the Energy bill, 759 E85 ethanol pumps 
have been installed around the country. Today, there are over 6 million 
alternative-fuel vehicles on the road.
  I stand here today to tell you that even more can be done. I am 
pleased President Bush and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
have committed to an even stronger, more robust biofuels policy. The 
President spoke of it. We are all interested in enforcing it and seeing 
it is done in the biomass area. We will work together on this important 
energy issue. Chairman Bingaman of the Energy Committee and I, as 
ranking member, will build on our Energy bill success.
  Because of the Energy Policy Act, we are making significant 
breakthroughs in coal--America's most abundant and affordable energy 
resource. Because of the clean coal provisions in the legislation, 
there are 159 new coal-based facilities in various planning stages.
  Over the next 5 years, the United States will add an estimated 60,000 
coal miners to the American workforce. The Energy bill will accelerate 
the development of a new generation of clean coal technologies. Because 
of title XIII of the Energy bill, the administration has appropriately 
and recently announced that it would award $1 billion in tax credits 
for clean coal projects such as IGCC projects for electricity 
generation, gasification projects, and other projects using innovative 
technologies. With $650 million in tax credits to

[[Page S1834]]

come next year, we are providing incentives for the American people to 
make better choices about the kind of energy we will use. And because 
of the Energy bill, those choices will be clean energy choices.
  Today, 50 percent of our Nation's electricity comes from coal, and 
the EIA estimates that by 2025, 54 percent of electricity consumed will 
be generated from coal. In China, they are building a coal-fired 
powerplant every 10 days. Let it be our mission to invest both the 
human and capital resources to the goal of zero-emission, coal-based 
power generation.
  Having made the statement about China, let me hope that we will find 
a way to negotiate with China so that they, too, will begin to be 
concerned about what they are generating and begin some mutual programs 
of restraint. Wouldn't that be good news for the world? Let us dedicate 
ourselves to choosing a free-market, incentive approach rather than a 
punitive, regulatory approach to solving this global problem.
  On nuclear energy, what did we do? In advancing nuclear power, 
Congress affirmed sound science and technology and rejected irrational 
fear. By doing this, we strengthened the nuclear renaissance in 
America. We provided Federal risk insurance for the first six nuclear 
reactors, production tax credits, and loan guarantees, and we renewed 
the Price-Anderson Act. All these initiatives and more provided 
evidence of our renewed support for clean nuclear power.
  Until the passage of the Energy bill 18 months ago, the world was 
passing us by on nuclear power. The renaissance was fading. Then 
Congress acted. Since that time, as many as 32 new nuclear reactors are 
in the planning stages. These nuclear plants would provide enough 
electricity to power 29 million homes. If these plants come into 
fruition, they will displace 270 million metric tons of carbon dioxide 
each year.
  Consider this: When all of those plants are operating for 5 years, it 
is estimated that they will have displaced the same amount of carbon 
emissions that the 230 million cars on the road in America today 
produce each year.
  This is what is at stake as we implement the various provisions of 
the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We must do more to solve our growing 
nuclear waste problem, and we must do more to show Americans what the 
rest of the world already knows: nuclear power is the largest source of 
clean, carbon-free energy in the world. Advancing nuclear power is 
essential for our economic strength and environmental well-being. While 
we do it, we will not be able to stop using other kinds of energy. So 
the coal people need not worry. They will be used, too, because this 
great land needs both and more.
  With the passage of the Energy Policy Act, we helped to stabilize 
long-term prices of natural gas by providing the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission with the tools necessary to ensure the safe 
operation and reliability of our Nation's liquid natural gas assets. 
Since the passage of the Energy bill in August of 2005, FERC has 
approved seven new LNG terminals or terminal expansions. Working with 
private sector operators, FERC has brought on line the capacity 
equivalent of 1.34 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, with the 
potential to increase that to 13.3 billion cubic feet per day. We must 
continue to look for ways domestically to find additional supplies of 
natural gas, as we did last year with the passage of the Gulf of Mexico 
Energy Security Act of 2006.
  In passing the Energy Policy Act, we substantially advanced renewable 
sources of energy in America. By the end of 2007, 2 million American 
homes will be powered by wind as we bring on line 6,000 megawatts of 
new wind power this year, part of the $4.5 billion in wind power 
investments spurred by the Energy bill. As a result of the wind power 
brought on line, we will displace 11 billion pounds of carbon dioxide 
annually.
  And there is so much more that we did. We promoted a modernized 
electricity grid, invested in solar energy, tax provisions that helped 
add almost 340,000 hybrid vehicles, and the list goes on. I continue to 
look for more to be done. In this Congress, we all will focus our 
efforts on convincing colleagues and the American people that the 
solutions to our energy and environmental challenges lie in the genius 
of the American people. I will not support energy policies that burden 
the people with higher energy costs and undue regulations. I oppose the 
creation of additional unmanageable bureaucracy with its potential for 
punitive and burdensome regulations that harm the American worker. We 
will meet the challenge of providing clean, affordable, and abundant 
energy supplies in this Nation by facilitating and unlocking the 
ingenuity of the American people with more capital investment, more 
loans guaranteed for people with new ideas to build new things. That is 
what we did in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and that is what we will 
continue to do, hopefully.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri is recognized.

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