A summary of recent NSPE government relations activities

Energy Amendments Losing Steam in Senate

Before heading home for the spring recess, the Senate took up several contentious amendments to the Democratic energy bill (S. 517).

A bipartisan amendment offered by Carl Levin (D-MI) and Christopher Bond (R-MO) granting the Department of Transportation two years to recommend an increase in fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles passed on a 62-38 vote. Under the proposal, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be directed to complete, within 15 months of passage, a rule increasing the corporate average fuel economy (CAFÉ) for light trucks, with an additional six months for automakers to comply. The Senate subsequently adopted an amendment, offered by Zell Miller (D-GA), that would exempt pickup trucks from any increase in CAFÉ standards.

In a blow to the Democratic electricity restructuring concept, the Senate passed an amendment that would grant regional organizations rather than federal regulators the authority to resolve disputes over transmission grid reliability standards. The amendment would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to create and oversee a mandatory reliability system for all power users. It would allow FERC to create a reliability structure that would then create a national electric-reliability organization to be approved by FERC.

The Senate overwhelmingly (29-70) rejected an amendment offered by James Jeffords (I-VT) that would have sharply increased the percentage of U.S. electricity supply derived from renewable energy sources. His amendment sought to increase the percentage of renewable energy generated each year by five percent beginning in 2005 until it reaches 20% in 2020. Opponents argued that any provision setting a national standard would impose an unfunded mandate on some states and municipalities that would be forced to generate energy from renewable sources.

The Senate defeated a series of amendments that would eliminate or weaken the provision in the bill requiring 10% of the nation's electricity by 2020 to be generated by renewable sources. The defeated amendments were secondary amendments to a primary one, authored by Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), that maintains the 10% target but alters how the nation reaches the target. It was agreed to by a voice vote.

Republicans rejected Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's (D-SD) charge that they were "slow-walking" the bill by failing to bring up before recess an amendment to permit exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An attempt by Daschle to get unanimous consent to move a cloture vote before recess failed.

Supporters of the ANWR amendment acknowledged they did not have the 60 votes needed to break a Democratic filibuster promised by John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). They strategy is to get the bill into conference where the House, which voted to allow drilling, might prevail.

During recess, the White House made it clear that the current round of fighting in the Middle East and rising oil prices makes it imperative that Congress pass an energy bill that includes the president's energy initiatives, many of which focus on domestic production. The president urged the Senate "to move with dispatch . . . to pass an energy plan, which provides a long-term, comprehensive structure to reduce prices."

NSPE has been urging Congress to quickly adopt a comprehensive energy package similar to the one passed by the House (H.R. 4).

NSPE Urges Support For Water Infrastructure

NSPE wrote House members encouraging them to cosponsor the Water Quality Investment Act (H.R. 3930).

In its request, NSPE noted that regulatory requirements imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency on state and local agencies to meet the upgraded standards of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act have forced many communities to go deeper into debt, increase water rates significantly, and defer maintenance and replacement of aging treatment and distribution components of their systems. H.R. 3930, which authorizes $20 billion over five years in federal assistance through State Revolving Loan Funds, would significantly increase the federal commitment to water infrastructure investment.

Transportation Week Celebrated in New Ways

National Transportation Week (May 12-18) offers the opportunity to recognize the value transportation brings to our nation as well as the millions of people who keep America moving. In particular, it is a focal point for reaching out to young people to make them aware of the many career opportunities transportation offers and the challenges ahead.