Public Citizen
!!! A C T I O N A L E R T !!! - Flawed Energy Bill
Fri Aug 1 17:38:39 2003
64.140.158.181

!!! A C T I O N A L E R T !!!
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?id=209

August 1, 2003

Late last night, the Senate unexpectedly agreed by unanimous consent to
put aside consideration of Sen. Pete Domenici's energy package (S.14) in
favor of last year's flawed bill. Lawmakers then approved the measure
84-14. This bill must now be conferenced with the House-passed energy
bill, H.R.6. Go to http://www.stopenergybill.org  to contact your
senators about the recently passed retro energy bill.
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*** P R E S S R E L E A S E ***

For Immediate Release: Aug. 1, 2003
Contact: Lisa Gue (202) 454-5130; Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174

By Passing Last Year's Flawed Energy Bill, Senate Takes Huge Step
Backward

STATEMENT of Lisa Gue, Policy Analyst, Public Citizen's Critical Mass
Energy and Environment Program:

The U.S. Senate's sudden decision to drag last year's energy bill from
the shelf and pass it is truly a step backward---not just because it
resurrects last year's bad ideas, but because the measure reads like an
industry wish list. The measure approved sells out consumers with a
losing medley of provisions that fail to promote safe, clean,
affordable energy. This legislation was bad last year, is still bad this
year, and is only poised to get worse in the pending conferencing
process.

This legislation toes the line of the Bush administration's energy
plan, which was hatched secretly with Enron executives and other energy
lobbyists. It contains billions of taxpayer dollars in handouts to
nuclear, coal and oil companies, including some of the wealthiest
corporations in the world. It includes provisions to repeal a vital
electricity consumer protection law, the Public Utility Holding Company
Act (PUHCA), which will advance the destructive path of deregulation and
encourage the same type of behavior that gave us Enron and the
California energy crisis.

Although deregulation is just one ingredient of the Republican-led
energy plan, it is central to an ideology that promotes corporate
profits over consumer protection, leaving millions of Americans with the
likelihood of higher energy bills and even less corporate
accountability. Among the energy bill's worst provisions:

- It reauthorizes the Price-Anderson Act, which caps the liability of
nuclear operators in the event of an accident or attack, thereby making
taxpayers responsible for nuclear catastrophes.
- It grants federal land and taxpayer money to energy companies for the
construction of new nuclear power plants and promotes dangerous nuclear
waste reprocessing technologies now banned.
- It does nothing to increase the fuel economy of vehicles on the
nation's highways and contains provisions that invite the industry to
sue to delay increases in the fuel economy standard.

Now, a Republican-led conference committee anticipates reconvening in
September to push forward a retrograde energy bill filled with goodies
for all their campaign contributors. Lawmakers should jettison this bill
and start over again to craft an energy policy that truly addresses the
needs of consumers and the environment, rather than the energy
industry.

###

Public Citizen is a national consumer advocacy organization based in
Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit
http://www.citizen.org

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S.14
Title: A bill to enhance the energy security of the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 4/30/2003) Cosponsors: (none)
Related Bills: H.R.6, H.R.1644, S.1005
Latest Major Action: 7/31/2003 Senate floor actions. Status: Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 79. a
Note: For further action on an energy omnibus bill, see H.R. 6.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:S.14:

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