SENATE ENERGY BILL SUMMARY

This energy bill could be a turning point in the fight FOR New Energy, not to mention AGAINST climate change. Participate at POWER OF WIND

A glance at the Senate energy bill
June 12, 2007 (AP via Yahoo News)

WHO
U.S. Senate
Will it be this?
WHAT
Major provisions in the Senate energy bill on auto mileage, ethanol, gas price gouging, electrical efficiency, vehicle research incentives and clean coal technology

WHEN
Presently being debated.

WHERE
Washington, D.C.

WHY
1. Requires automakers to get new vehicle mileage to 35 mpg by 2020 and make 4%/yr increase thereafter (present: 27.5 mpg, cars, 22.2 mpg, SUVs/small trucks).
2. Requires five times increase in ethanol (from corn and cellulosic -- prairie grass, wood chips.-- sources) as vehicle fuel (to 36 billion gallons/yr) by 2022.
3. Price gouging ("unconscionably excessive" prices) on oil products including gasoline becomes illegal and new federal authority for oil market manipulation investigation.
Or this?

4. New appliance/lighting efficiency standards with federal acceleration of public building lighting efficiency.
5. Grants, loan guarantees, incentives to research on fuel efficient vehicles (hybrids, advanced diesel, battery technologies)
6. Development of commercial-scale carbon-capture-and (geologic) storage demonstrations in coal-burning power plants.

QUOTES
from the American Wind Energy Association’s letter to Senators Reid, McConnell, Bingaman and Domenici (co-signed by a long list of corporations, manufacturers, electric utilities, renewable energy developers, labor organizations, farm groups, faith-based organizations and environmental advocates):

“…we are writing to urge the Senate to include a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in energy security legislation…because it will help the nation to take full advantage of the abundant domestic renewable resources…An RPS is a market-based mechanism that requires electric utilities to include a specific percentage of clean, renewable energy in their generation portfolios…an RPS would make America more energy self-reliant…An RPS is one of the most important and readily available approaches to reducing greenhouse gases…The additional investment in renewable electric generation would create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs…We believe the time has come for Congress to move quickly to enact national RPS legislation…”