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Subsidy-laden energy bill light on conservation

by Former Governor David Cargo, a member of REP's Honorary Board
published in the Albuquerque Journal on August 10, 2005

When President Bush signed the national energy bill into law Monday, one fact became abundantly clear: this president, and this Congress, do not take our nation's energy security seriously.

Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Dominici should be credited for rejecting the most egregious amendments and proposals passed by the House. But in the end the bill is larded with tax breaks and credits for an already bloated energy industry, with more than $14.5 billion going to special interest groups.

One plus is that at long last we have an energy policy — albeit flawed — and our senators had more vision than the rest of Congress, which is almost totally blinded to the energy needs of the nation.

We can expect the administration and Congress to trot out the usual lines about increasing access to domestic oil and gas reserves and funding research into renewable sources of energy. But the reality is the bill represents a missed opportunity of historic proportions.

While the failings of the bill are many, there are a few that stand out for their short-sightedness and lack of respect for some fundamental American values.

First among these is Congress' stubborn refusal to address America's dependence on foreign oil — arguably the most important political, economic and environmental issue of the modern era.

By failing to enact measures to reduce our nation's oil consumption, Congress has committed an unforgivable sin of omission. The technology to dramatically improve vehicle fuel economy is fully mature, and the potential savings are enormous: a modest increase of five miles per gallon would save 1 million barrels of oil each day by 2010, nearly 10 percent of our current imports.

If all U.S. cars (not including light trucks) sold today used off-the-shelf hybrid technology, the nation would save 15 percent more oil than it received from the Persian Gulf in 2002. That's what some of us would call progress on the path to energy security.

But instead of addressing the oil efficiency issue, Congress lavished billions in tax breaks and subsidies on the oil and gas industry — an industry that is hardly in need of financial assistance. It's a stretch to imagine how these subsidies could lead to lower costs for consumers, or to greater energy security for our nation.

To add insult to the injury suffered by America's taxpayers, Congress has decided that our right to clean, safe drinking water is less important than the oil and gas industry's right to drill. By weakening both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, Congress has imperiled the West's most valuable natural resource.

This should cause special concern here in New Mexico, where many communities already struggle to protect their water supplies from contamination in the oil and gas patch.

While some may trust the industry's promise to protect our water, I'd be far more comfortable knowing that those promises were backed by the force of law. Now, it will be up to cash-strapped state agencies to protect our water from pollution. Call it another unfunded mandate from Washington.

The real tragedy of this energy bill is that these significant sacrifices of taxpayers' money and of protections for water and public lands are completely unnecessary.

The American people are blessed with an uncanny ability to innovate solutions to complex problems. We put a man on the moon; we designed and developed the first mass-produced cars; we led the Internet revolution.

It's this spirit of innovation that makes energy-efficient technologies the great hope for our nation's energy future. The aggressive deployment of energy efficiency — in our cars, in our homes and appliances, in industrial processes — could save Americans countless billions of dollars each year, and obviate the need to sacrifice our lands and waters at the altar of fossil fuel development.

When coupled with the equally aggressive development of renewable energy resources like wind farms and solar power, America could slip the noose of our dangerous and growing depndence on foreigh sources of oil and gas. We could reduce, and potentially reverse, the negative impacts of climate change. But above all else, we could reinvigorate Americans' strong belief in being the master of our own destiny — no problem too big, no hurdle too high.

With this energy bill, Congress has shown it would rather take the easy road than the right road. New Mexico and America deserve better.