POWER POINT PRESENTATION & CONGRESS POLICY:
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ENERGY POLICY: House GOP plan favors domestic drilling, nuclear power, low-carbon tech (05/19/2008)
Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire senior reporter
A group of House Republicans studying energy and climate issues has concluded that the best way to lower gas prices and address global warming includes more oil and gas drilling off U.S. coasts and the sharing of low-carbon energy technologies with developing countries, according to a Power Point presentation obtained today by Greenwire.
The Energy Security and Climate Change Task Force -- composed of Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- has prepared a set of six principles that suggest greater domestic energy exploration, streamlined refinery permitting and increased energy production from nuclear power plants.
On reducing gasoline costs, the group argues that U.S. energy policy should emphasize an increase in supplies. "We can't pretend that fuel economy and conservation alone will solve high gas prices," the group said. "America has trillions of barrels of untapped oil. Congress must make it possible to tap into much more American-made energy."
Addressing climate change, the panel focuses on technology development and stays far from any specific mention of a new cap-and-trade program, a measure Democrats hope to advance that would set a mandatory limit on heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.
"It's a dead issue," Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said of cap-and-trade during an interview last week. Barton presides over the GOP energy task force.
The Republicans warn that any climate policy that reduces coal use would drive up natural gas demand and energy prices. They instead urge a doubling in nuclear power generation by 2030, as well as recycling of spent nuclear fuels. And it also recommends the continuation of President Bush's outreach efforts on climate with developing countries.
"Support the reduction of CO2 emissions through incentives and technology," the GOP principles say. "We will oppose regulations that hurt working people and damage our economy. A revitalization of the nuclear industry with modern safety features is essential to an expanding economy."
GOP bill expected
Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee started talks in January about climate and energy issues. Their proposals are likely to surface in a Republican energy package this week, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said yesterday on ABC's "This Week."
But not every member of the House Republican conference agrees with all of the ideas (E&E Daily, May 15).
A handful of Republicans from coal states, for example, are considering an industry-friendly, cap-and-trade bill. "We are exploring some cap-and-trade systems that give coal a pretty good break," Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, an Energy and Commerce panel member, said last week in an interview.
Click here for the Republicans' energy and climate principles.
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