Daschle said the bill he is sponsoring balances production and conservation – and would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. Even more importantly, he said it is an energy plan that will take a substantial step toward freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil by increasing the use of clean, renewable sources of energy like ethanol, which can't be threatened by a foreign power. The bill also invests in the technologies needed to make existing coal power plants cleaner and more efficient.

Daschle said that while the energy bill passed by the House contains little more than studies, tax breaks to energy companies and drilling in a wildlife refuge in Alaska – none of which are good for South Dakota – the Senate bill makes serious investments in South Dakota priorities.

"Our bill is a forward-looking, realistic, and comprehensive plan for providing South Dakotans and all Americans with clean, reliable, and affordable energy. The bill recognizes that we cannot drill ourselves to energy independence, and it makes balanced investments in renewable electricity from wind, solar and geothermal sources, energy conservation, renewable fuels, and traditional fuels, such as oil and gas, and cleaner use of coal," Daschle said.

Daschle said several energy tax provisions that recently passed the Senate Finance Committee would also be added to his bill. These provisions include:

• Requiring electric suppliers to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind, by 2020.

• Creating a Renewable Fuels Standard that will triple ethanol production over the next decade by requiring that an increasing percentage of renewable fuel (ethanol and biodiesel) be blended into motor fuels.

• Providing grants and loans to tribes to expand development of tribal energy sources and to improve tribal energy infrastructure, and creating a new Office of Indian Energy Programs within the Department of Energy.

• Making cooperatives eligible, for the first time, for the existing small producer ethanol tax credit; and increasing the annual production limit on who qualifies as a small producer from 30 million gallons to 60 million gallons per year.

• Creating a new tax incentive to promote the use of biodiesel, a soybean-based fuel.

• Providing new tax credits for homeowners who invest in energy-efficient technology in their homes.

• More than doubling funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), increasing the annual authorization to $3.4 billion.

• Providing a five-year extension of the production tax credit for electricity generated by wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass.

• Providing tax incentives for investments in energy development on Indian lands.