Mike Levin: “I will vote for Senate passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. I voted earlier to invoke cloture…”

“I will vote for Senate passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. I voted earlier to invoke cloture and to move forward with the bill after receiving assurances that my understanding of congressional intent relative to the fuel economy provisions is correct. I anticipate that the bill will now be accepted by the House of Representatives. I regret that it was necessary to drop the energy tax provisions. I believe it is particularly unfortunate that the energy tax provisions were dropped since many of these are important to continued development of biofuels and to development and commercialization of many advanced and renewable technologies. Included in these provisions were tax incentives for plug-in hybrids which offer potential for significant reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. I hope that we will have another chance to enact these very important provisions. With regard to the renewable electricity mandate, I regret that we were unable to come up with a formula for a renewable electricity mandate that could have garnered widespread support. I believe that a renewable electricity mandate is important to provide incentives for development of renewable resources, which could lead to the creation of numerous high-skill jobs and increase our country's energy security and independence. However, I also believe that a renewable energy mandate must be done in a way that does not have economically detrimental effects.”