Time to Rally Congress to Pass Comprehensive Energy Bill!

Leadership of Senator Max Baucus needed NOW for Montana and the Nation

The New York Times recently reported (Sept 13, 2007) that passage of a comprehensive energy bill this fall lost some of its momentum due to congressional attention to other critical national issues such as Iraq, financial market turmoil and appropriations.  There are also disagreements over the two disparate versions of the energy bill passed this summer by the House and Senate. 

Despite hopes by many in Congress to finalize an energy bill after the August recess, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) legislative director, Tim Greeff, expects consideration of the bill to occur in early November.  It will take lots of hard work by Montana conservation and environmental groups and dedicated citizens across the country for a comprehensive, forward-looking Energy Bill to pass before the end of 2007.

Senator Max Baucus is in a unique leadership position to ensure the Energy Bill gets moved to the forefront of the congressional agenda this fall.  Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Baucus also sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as an Environment and Public Works subcommittee on global warming.
 
As reported in previous editions of Congressional Watch, the Senate passed its energy bill on June 21 and both Senator Max Baucus and Senator Jon Tester voted for the bill.  The most significant requirement in the Senate bill includes increasing automobile fuel-efficiency standards to a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, compared to the current 27.5 m.p.g. requisite.

The House passed its legislation on August 4 but Congressman Dennis Rehberg voted against it. Among other things, it requires utility companies to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Montana Legislature passed a similar provision in 2005, which requires public utilities to produce 15% of their retail electricity sales from renewable energy sources by 2015.

According to the NYT article, the bill has slowed because of legislative hurdles.  Since the two versions of the Energy Bill have gaping differences, it would be tough to reconcile all the differences in a conference committee.  Some suggest that the leadership try to iron out differences outside of a conference, but speculated that such a strategy may lead to a Republican filibuster in the Senate.  To add to the challenges, President Bush has pledged a veto threat for the Energy Bill.

Please write Senator Baucus and urge him to lead the way by fighting for passage of a comprehensive Energy Bill this fall! 

For more information on the 2007 Energy Bill, visit:

League of Conservation Voters:  www.lcv.org

Montana Environmental Information Center: www.meic.org

Montana Public Interest Research Group: www.montpirg.org

Northern Plains Resource Council:  www.northernplains.org

Western Organizations of Resource Councils: www.worc.org

Sierra Club:      www.sierraclub.org

Natural Resources Defense Council:  www.nrdc.org

National Environmental Trust:   www.net.org