Patrick Leahy: “I firmly believe our Nation needs a sound and balanced national energy plan, emphasizing a clean, reliable, sustainable…”

“I firmly believe our Nation needs a sound and balanced national energy plan, emphasizing a clean, reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy policy. Unfortunately, this bill fails to do that. The Senate sent a good energy bill to conference, and we got back a frog. This conference report fails to reduce our dependence on imported oil, fails to address the threat of global warming, fails to make much needed new investments in clean energy production and fails to provide any help to consumers that are suffering from record high gas prices. Specifically, this conference report does not include the Senate's mandatory oil savings clause, which would have reduced oil use by 1 million barrels per day. The bill also deletes the renewable energy standard that would have required utilities to obtain at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Increasing the production of electricity from renewable energy sources will help improve the quality of our country's water and air. Instead of supporting the advancement of renewable energy technologies to create jobs and reduce pollution, we have a bill that gives oil, gas, ethanol, and nuclear companies enormous subsidies. In addition, the bill does not include any provisions to address global warning. I believe we have a responsibility to act now to curb greenhouse gases; thus, I was pleased the Senate bill agreed on the need for mandatory programs to address greenhouse gases.…”