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Garden Serenity Made Simple First Tracks, a Bluebird Day Caves of Puerto Rico Trans-Canada Trail Escape to Wild Long Island Research on Vacation Eco-Footing Florida's Pinellas Rail-Trail Walking on Windward Waves Akha Hill Tribe Banff Fund Raiser Central Park Haven for Birds Secret of Kartchner Caverns Senate Floor the Next Energy Battleground WASHINGTON, DC, February 25, 2002 (ENS) - The Senate is revving up for a battle over how Americans will fuel their power plants and factories, their cars and trucks. Senator Tom Daschle (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) The Senate will debate energy policy in a bill drafted by Majority Leader Democratic Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota that will bar drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a measure already passed by the Republican dominated House of Representatives in its version of the energy bill. Saturday, in his first weekly radio address to the nation since his return from Asia, President George W. Bush stressed the importance of securing a domestic energy supply that will safely meet the increasing energy needs of Americans. President George W. Bush (Photo courtesy The White House) "As our economy continues to grow," the President said, "U.S. oil consumption is projected to increase by about one-third during the next 20 years. Our demand for electricity is expected to rise by 45 percent. America is already using more energy than our domestic resources can provide, and unless we act to increase our energy independence, our reliance on foreign sources of energy will only increase." On February 15, Senator Daschle introduced his energy bill, which he says would accomplish the same things - strengthen the economy, reduce our dependence from foreign oil, provide energy security for the nation for decades to come andit would protect the environment. "The bill recognizes that we cannot drill ourselves to energy independence, and it makes balanced investments in renewable electricity from wind, solar and geothermal sources, energy conservation, renewable fuels, and traditional fuels, such as oil and gas, and cleaner use of coal," Daschle said. Environmental groups argue that the safest and fastest way to increase America's energy security is to increase the energy efficiency of vehicles, homes, factories, offices and appliances, and to increase reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. The President says he supports conservation and renewables too, "Yet they alone cannot solve our energy problems. We must also reduce America's dependence on foreign sources of oil by encouraging safe and clean exploration at home." Exploratory drilling in Alaska (Photo courtesy Arctic Power) "On my way to visit Asia, I stopped in Alaska, a place of tremendous natural beauty and important energy resources," President Bush said. "I met with many Alaskans, including native leaders who want to preserve the grandeur of their state while carefully developing the energy beneath a small fraction of it. New technology makes this possible. Our national security makes it urgent." "Alaskans know firsthand that modern technology allows us to bring oil to the surface cleanly and safely, while protecting our environment and wildlife. We should listen to Alaskans who support exploring ANWR in a safe and clean way," he told the nation. But not all Alaskans support drilling in the refuge which is inhabited by the 130,000 member Porcupine caribou herd, which calves in and around the coastal plain. The region is considered sacred by the Gwich'in Nation, a native Arctic people who for thousands of years have depended upon the caribou herd as a traditional source of food, skins and other necessities. Caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Photo courtesy Gwich'in Nation) Critics of the Bush energy plan point out that that the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains no more than a six month supply of oil at current consumption rates, and that it will take at least 10 years to bring that oil to market. Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington, DC based environmental organization argues that, "Because total known U.S. reserves represent only 2.8 percent of the world's oil and our nation uses nearly a third of the world's production. we are really powerless to influence prices in any meaningful way or to reduce our dependence on foreign oil." Daschle said the bill he is sponsoring balances production and conservation - and would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. It would raise the CAFE (corporate average fuel efficiency) standards that specify how many miles per gallon of gas the manufacturers of cars and light trucks must make sure their vehicles get. Even more importantly, Daschle said, it is an energy plan that will free America from dependence on foreign oil by increasing the use of clean, renewable sources of energy like ethanol, which cannot be threatened by a foreign power. The bill also invests in the technologies needed to make existing coal power plants cleaner and more efficient. Energy tax provisions passed by the Senate Finance Committee would be added to his bill, said Daschle. They include: Requiring electric suppliers to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind, by 2020. Creating a Renewable Fuels Standard that will triple ethanol production over the next decade by requiring that an increasing percentage of renewable fuel, ethanol and biodiesel, be blended into motor fuels. Providing grants and loans and tax credits to tribes to expand development of tribal energy sources and to improve tribal energy infrastructure, and creating a new Office of Indian Energy Programs within the Department of Energy. Making cooperatives eligible, for the first time, for the existing small producer ethanol tax credit. Creating a new tax incentive to promote the use of biodiesel, a soybean-based fuel. Providing a five year extension of the production tax credit for electricity generated by wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass. Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski, a Republican, leads the Senate bloc that opposes the Daschle approach to energy legislation. Murkowski is running for governor of Alaska in an attempt to unseat Tony Knowles, a Democrat who supports drilling in the Arctic Refuge. He takes the position that drilling in the Arctic Refuge actually helps the environment because other forms of energy production have environmental impacts too. "We can raise CAFE standards, but that will not be enough. Wind power isnąt going to be enough. We can install solar, but we can't balance our energy needs without also increasing production of energy," said Murkowski, on February 14, the day before Daschle introduced his bill in the Senate. Alaska witnesses on Capital Hill to give evidence to a Senate hearing on drilling the Arctic Refuge. From left: John Shively, commissioner Alaska Department of Natural Resources; Brenda Itta-Lee, member of the Arctic Slope Regional Corp.; Senator Frank Murkowski; Alma Upicksoun of ASRC; and Bill VanNess. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) Murkowski said that, "while exploration of 2,000 acres of the Alaska's coastal plain might produce 16 billion barrels of oil, that it would take 80.5 million acres of corn/ethanol to produce as much energy, 3.7 million acres of wind farms - the equivalent of Rhode Island and Connecticut - or 448,000 acres of solar panels to produce as much energy as 2,000 acres in ANWR." "As we look at wind, at solar there is a significant footprint. What the President has is a balanced energy plan. It would be far better for the environment if we allow development of just 2,000 acres of the Arctic," said Murkowski. Fellow Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona wants to achieve independence from foreign sources of oil by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency standards even more than the Democrats. On February 8, he introduced a bill designed to achieve increased fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would require an average fuel economy of 36 miles per gallon by 2016, which could include up to 10 percent of emission credits. The Democrats are proposing a 35 mile per gallon (mpg) standard for all vehicles by 2013. Standards are now set at an average of 27.5 mpg for passenger cars, and 20.7 mpg for light duty trucks. In a newly launched political action campaign hosted by the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife, Martin Sheen who plays TV's "West Wing" president Josiah Bartlet, warned that "when Senators vote on this energy bill, they will be confronted with an amendment by some who want to give permission to Big Oil to drill in our finest remaining wildlife sanctuary, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." Martin Sheen (Photo courtesy Celebrity Forever) "For 21 years," Sheen said, "the conservation community has fought successfully to fend off one attempt after another to drill in this place so often called 'America's Serengetti.' To this point they've won every fight. But environmentalists MUST win every fight, for the opposition only has to win ONCE and we could forever lose this incomparable ecosystem that is home to hundreds of bird species, polar bears, muskoxen, grizzlies, wolves, caribou, and more. Sadly, drilling proponents believe this upcoming Senate vote will be that one time." Murkowski and most Senate Republicans have vowed to keep promoting energy legislation that would open ANWR to drilling and provide the energy industry with $38 billion in subsidies, tax breaks and other financial incentives. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved.   E-Mail This Article EcoISP Home

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