Monday, in a statement made from the White House Rose Garden, President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling that his father put in place when he was president.
Drilling on the outer continental shelf (OCS) is being falsely pitched as a short term, immediate fix to high gas prices, when in fact any resulting leases will not be in production until 2017 and relief at the gas station will be minimal. Most estimates put the price decrease at around four cents per gallon.
Fortunately, our coasts are still protected by a legislative moratorium. Although Big Oil allies in Congress would like to do away with that too. Legislation proposing to lift the moratorium could come in the form of a stand-alone bill or an amendment to any number of land or energy bills.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has introduced an energy bill that would open the OCS to drilling and also gives states the right to reject the sale of leases off their coasts. LCV strongly opposes this bill for many reasons, including that spills or leaks may occur off the coast of one state can easily travel elsewhere by way of wind and ocean currents. It should also be obvious that marine animals, including economically valuable fish species, do not respect state boundaries. Most importantly, the Energy Information Administration predicts that drilling on the OCS will not reach peak production until 2025 and when it does it will account for less than one percent of daily demand in the United States. Protecting our rich coastal ecosystems should take priority over such minimal supply gains.
Republican Senators Stevens and Murkowski of Alaska also plan to introduce language either as a standalone bill or an amendment that would open 1.5 million acres on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. LCV also strongly opposes drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
Newt Gingrich is expected to drop off a petition on Capitol Hill this week with around 1.2 million signatures asking Congress, “to lower gas prices by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves”. In comparison, Governors of six coastal states, representing 65.8 million constituents, have asked Congress not to lift the OCS moratorium. Gingrich has been leading a campaign entitled “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” This campaign has been funded by Big Oil for Big Oil. For more information see the article, ‘Destroy Here? Destroy Now? Gone Forever?’ at Alaska Wilderness League and follow the link to their fact sheet (www.alaskawild.org).
More drilling is not part of the global warming solution and can only increase our dependence on fossil fuels. While gas prices remain high it is expected that proposals will continue from pro-drilling members of Congress, but LCV is working hard to point out commonsense solutions like releasing oil from the 700 million barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and continue investments in alternative energy sources.
Showing posts with label Policy and Lobbying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Policy and Lobbying. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Policy & Lobbying
Congress returns to session this week after its 4th of July recess, during which most Members heard numerous concerns from constituents suffering due to high gas prices. This spells bad news for the next four to five weeks, as environmentally damaging bills are likely to come up every week until the August recess. Most of these will be in the form of drilling in one form or another. However, this week the bill on the table will probably be H.R. 2208, the Liquid Coal Fuel Act, also a pretty bad idea both environmentally and economically.
These misguided and Big Coal/Oil-prejudiced policies will do nothing to reduce the price of gas, but some in Congress will continue to sound that horn rather than working to offer a wider suite of energy options to American consumers. Only with greater market diversification, increased availability of other forms of energy, and improved transit will consumers find relief from escalating gas prices. So far however, Congress has been deadlocked, largely due to the desire of many to score political points in an election year.
A bill repealing the moratorium on drilling in the outer continental shelf (OCS) will likely be sent to the Appropriations Committee for mark-up on either Wednesday or Thursday. The Committee should consider sternly the environmental damage such a bill would do and the minimal likelihood that it would accomplish anything on behalf of the American public. The more likely result is yet more record-breaking profits for oil companies. Thankfully, the facts are on our side, and it is only the misdirection of those in league with Big Oil that are standing between environmental degradation and the continued preservation of a vital moratorium.
With the US at 25% of world oil consumption and only 2% of reserves in our control, there is no logic to suggest that increasing drilling provides either a short or a long-term solution to the problem of high prices. It is now on the backs of Congress to remain strong in the coming weeks to both preserve our environment and appropriately tackle high gas prices. Even John McCain, who tries to paint himself as an environmentalist despite a woeful League of Conservation Voters lifetime score of 24%, admits that some of his Big Oil-friendly suggestions offer merely "psychological" help for Americans.
These misguided and Big Coal/Oil-prejudiced policies will do nothing to reduce the price of gas, but some in Congress will continue to sound that horn rather than working to offer a wider suite of energy options to American consumers. Only with greater market diversification, increased availability of other forms of energy, and improved transit will consumers find relief from escalating gas prices. So far however, Congress has been deadlocked, largely due to the desire of many to score political points in an election year.
A bill repealing the moratorium on drilling in the outer continental shelf (OCS) will likely be sent to the Appropriations Committee for mark-up on either Wednesday or Thursday. The Committee should consider sternly the environmental damage such a bill would do and the minimal likelihood that it would accomplish anything on behalf of the American public. The more likely result is yet more record-breaking profits for oil companies. Thankfully, the facts are on our side, and it is only the misdirection of those in league with Big Oil that are standing between environmental degradation and the continued preservation of a vital moratorium.
With the US at 25% of world oil consumption and only 2% of reserves in our control, there is no logic to suggest that increasing drilling provides either a short or a long-term solution to the problem of high prices. It is now on the backs of Congress to remain strong in the coming weeks to both preserve our environment and appropriately tackle high gas prices. Even John McCain, who tries to paint himself as an environmentalist despite a woeful League of Conservation Voters lifetime score of 24%, admits that some of his Big Oil-friendly suggestions offer merely "psychological" help for Americans.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Post From the Policy & Lobbying Side of LCV
LCV's Policy and Lobbying department is going to start guest-blogging on LCVlive about the day-to-day developments of environmental priorities on the Hill.
As most of LCVlive's readers likely know, the biggest environmental action on the Hill recently was Warner-Lieberman bill, also known as the Climate Safety Act. This piece of legislation would have been the first global warming legislation in the history of the country. The bill established a market-based cap-and-trade system limiting global warming, mirroring on the federal level what almost 30 states are implementing in some fashion. The bill stalled when the Senate voted 48-36 to end debate. Some post-game thoughts:
Joe Lieberman, who has co-sponsored global warming legislation in the past, found an unlikely ally in his bi-partisan co-sponsor John Warner. Warner, a retiring Virginia senator who has historically voted against global warming legislation, rethought his position when his young grandchildren urged him to do something about the problem. The pair, along with Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, showed tremendous leadership in driving this legislation. The environmental community, including LCV, worked hard throughout the process to strengthen the act by upping targets to where science says we need to be and ensuring the proceeds went to public benefit instead of polluters, while fighting against bad amendments such as subsidies for the nuclear industry or a "safety valve" which would effectively curtail the bill if gas prices reached a certain price.
However, a group of anti-environment Senators, with Jim Inhofe and Mitch McConnell leading the charge, resorted to cheap obstructionist tactics. In a move that you'd think would only happen in Hollywood, these Senators made the clerks read the entire 492-page bill aloud, which took 10 hours.
In spite of this, 54 senators voted or issued statements in support of continuing the debate. This is great progress, since the last global warming vote we had 38 Senators voting in favor of global warming legislation. Clearly, however, we still have work to do, and one of the most important steps is that we need to elect pro-environment candidates in 2008.
As most of LCVlive's readers likely know, the biggest environmental action on the Hill recently was Warner-Lieberman bill, also known as the Climate Safety Act. This piece of legislation would have been the first global warming legislation in the history of the country. The bill established a market-based cap-and-trade system limiting global warming, mirroring on the federal level what almost 30 states are implementing in some fashion. The bill stalled when the Senate voted 48-36 to end debate. Some post-game thoughts:
Joe Lieberman, who has co-sponsored global warming legislation in the past, found an unlikely ally in his bi-partisan co-sponsor John Warner. Warner, a retiring Virginia senator who has historically voted against global warming legislation, rethought his position when his young grandchildren urged him to do something about the problem. The pair, along with Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, showed tremendous leadership in driving this legislation. The environmental community, including LCV, worked hard throughout the process to strengthen the act by upping targets to where science says we need to be and ensuring the proceeds went to public benefit instead of polluters, while fighting against bad amendments such as subsidies for the nuclear industry or a "safety valve" which would effectively curtail the bill if gas prices reached a certain price.
However, a group of anti-environment Senators, with Jim Inhofe and Mitch McConnell leading the charge, resorted to cheap obstructionist tactics. In a move that you'd think would only happen in Hollywood, these Senators made the clerks read the entire 492-page bill aloud, which took 10 hours.
In spite of this, 54 senators voted or issued statements in support of continuing the debate. This is great progress, since the last global warming vote we had 38 Senators voting in favor of global warming legislation. Clearly, however, we still have work to do, and one of the most important steps is that we need to elect pro-environment candidates in 2008.
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