U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, has introduced an energy bill in the House of Representatives that would promote energy conservation, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, encourage the development of alternative fuels and repeal the $8 billion in tax breaks that benefit oil, gas, nuclear and coal companies. If passed, the bill would also be an engine of economic development, spurring the creation of new industries that employ large numbers of people and reversing the global perception of the nation as an energy laggard to energy leader, he said.
“It”™s the most aggressive and all-encompassing energy-efficiency bill introduced in Congress,” Hinchey told a small group of reporters in his office in uptown Kingston last week, noting that the bill had also been introduced in the Senate. “There”™s a good chance we can get a decent bill passed by July 7.”
Besides weaning the nation off Mideast oil and breaking the stranglehold of domestic oil and gas companies over the availability of fuels, the bill would combat global warming by reducing the amount of hydrocarbons in the air and also lead to lower energy prices for consumers.
The economic impact on the Hudson Valley would be particularly significant. Hinchey characterized the region as a future “energy valley,” with industries sprouting up to produce energy-efficient devices such as solar collectors. He said he had been meeting with a number of “brilliant business people” in the area to discuss the development of solar and photovoltaic technologies as well as wind power and harnessing energy from the river”™s tides, a technology that”™s currently being developed in Nova Scotia.
Among the bill”™s provisions:
— Increases fuel economy of cars and light trucks by raising the corporate average standard (CAFÉ) to 40 miles per gallon by 2016, saving 4 million out of 20 million barrels of oil a day. Fuel economy standards would be changed to include vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds and more, which means SUVs would have to comply.
— Doubles the tax credit in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for buying a fuel-efficient car and eliminates the 60,000-vehicle limit on these types of vehicles.
— Promotes the use of public transportation by subsidizing fares and authorizes funding to build energy-efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transport like clean buses and light rails.
— Increases funds for energy efficiency housing and offers tax incentives to retrofit homes and commercial buildings.
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— Doubles funding for Energy Star programs, which creates incentives for businesses and individuals to purchase energy-efficient appliances, to $112 million per fiscal year.
— Increases funding for the research and development of biofuels, hydrogen, solar photovoltaic and wind technologies.
— Instructs the Department of Energy to carry out a program of R&D, demonstration and commercial application of geothermal energy, hydropower, co-generation and distributed energy production as authorized in the Energy Policy Act.
— Repeals approximately $8 billion in tax breaks for oil, gas, nuclear, and coal companies contained in the act.
Hinchey said those $8 billion in tax breaks would help pay for the bill”™s other provisions, although the total cost would far exceed that amount. However, the impact of global warming on the environment and the risk to national security if nothing is done to create alternatives to oil would be much higher. Regarding the likelihood of overcoming the auto industry”™s powerful lobbying efforts to defeat the new proposed CAFE standards, Hinchey noted the time is ripe for change. “The political power to get something done is greater in Congress than since the 1970s,” he said, noting that higher fuel standards were implemented in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis””only to be eliminated in 1981, where they have remained since.
The monopoly of the oil and gas industry also needs to be broken, he said. Currently, the government “allows the oil companies to charge whatever they want. There”™s no competition in the oil and gas industries. They are violating federal antitrust laws,” he said. More refineries are desperately needed for better efficiencies, but the oil companies deliberately don”™t expand their refining capacity in order to keep the supply of gasoline tight. This raises prices for consumers, resulting in record profits for the oil companies, Hinchey said.
Removing the lucrative tax breaks that benefit those industries would help bring reform in the short term. Long term, the investment in R&D for alternative energy technologies is vital. Hinchey was particularly keen on the possibilities for solar energy, noting that the technology had improved dramatically.
“If we jump ahead now the impact on the national economy would be huge,” he said.
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