The Pathetic Energy Bill of 2005

Congress has a brilliant record of passing laws of staggering ineptitude. Case in point: the new energy bill. This bill represents the first major overhaul of America’s energy policies in 13 years. Yet it is remarkable in how little it will do to change our nation’s energy usage.

Ask American consumers what a new energy policy should contain and you’ll get common sense answers: the country shouldn’t be so dependent on foreign sources of oil, our consumption of oil should decrease, we should protect the environment, and in the meantime the price of gasoline should be lower and the price of electricity shouldn’t go any higher. You would think that the new energy bill would promote huge increases in the use alternative sources of energy, protect people from rising energy rates, mandate efficiency in order to lower our consumption of foreign crude, and take action to decrease global warming. On all these fronts, the bill is a dismal failure.

At a time when energy companies are reaping record profits, the energy bill unnecessarily gives away our tax dollars to the fossil fuel and nuclear energy industries in the form of subsidies and loan guarantees. Such is the incredible political power that energy companies wield in Washington in a system of legalized corruption that the bill is filled to the brim with massive giveaways to mega-wealthy corporations. (Didn’t the Republicans used to say they are the party of fiscal responsibility and less government?)

Glaringly, the bill rejects any mandatory increase in auto efficiency standards to conserve gasoline and decrease pollution. The transportation sector accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. oil consumption, but measures to raise fuel-efficiency requirements were voted down during energy-bill negotiations.

Though twenty-six former national security officials joined environmental advocates in calling for expanded use of "advanced biomass, alcohol and other available petroleum fuel alternatives," the measure adds only an extremely modest requirement that refiners raise the amount of ethanol used in gasoline from 4 billion gallons to 7.5 billion gallons a year.

The bill hardly makes a dent in the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Our leaders are still concerned that saving the planet’s ecosystem would be too costly for the US economy. And while the bill could have championed hydrogen plants, and solar and wind power, it barely nudges these industries forward.

Congratulations, Congress. You’ve missed another opportunity to do the right thing. Enjoy your summer recess.