If you've been holding your breath until Congress enacts sensible energy legislation, you'd better exhale before you pass out. Last week the House approved the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, which can only be described as a few small steps forward and several giant steps backward.
The screaming headlines proclaiming "Congress Lifts Offshore Drilling Ban" are misleading. The legislation would allow drilling 50-100 miles off both coasts, but only if each state agrees. The bill removes the largest incentive for states to do so by failing to include revenue sharing provisions. Drilling within 50 miles of the coast is permanently banned, despite evidence that these areas are particularly rich in oil and gas.
The legislation also repeals tax incentives for new energy exploration. It changes foreign tax credit rules that would put American gas and oil companies at a competitive disadvantage with their international competitors--many foreign gas and oil companies are state owned. It would require states to generate 15% of their electricity through renewables, but would exclude contributions from nuclear and clean coal. States with cloudy and still climates (i.e., little solar or wind-generated power) would be forced to purchase credits from other states, a major wealth transfer with little upside.
Along with conservation, efficiency, biofuels and renewables, and nuclear power, any effective energy strategy must include increased domestic energy production. This bill fails miserably on that count.
Addressing climate change is another key component of a sound energy strategy. But a new proposal by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is as flawed as Congress' bill on domestic production. A new U.S. Chamber-commissioned study concluded that, if enacted, the EPA proposal could require up to 1 million midsize to large commercial buildings to obtain a special permit prior to new construction or modifications. The permits are costly, take months (or even years) to complete, and can require the owner to install new, emissions-limiting control technologies.
And we're not just talking about large businesses--the permits would apply to hotels, bakeries, office buildings, and even churches that emit CO2 over a certain low threshold. They could ultimately serve as yet another blow to an economy that is already running on fumes.
Congress must step in and tell the EPA that the Clean Air Act is not the appropriate mechanism to regulate greenhouse gases.
What will it take for our elected officials and policymakers to get serious about energy and climate change? Like Nero, we are fiddling while Rome burns.
As we welcome in the new fiscal year, I would like to also welcome Ms. Lupita R. Canales as the 2008-2009 Chairman of the Board for the Laredo Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Canales is the President of A.R. Canales International Brokers, Inc.
By Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
