SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY

LENGTH: 572 words

COMMITTEE: HOUSE SCIENCE

HEADLINE: ADMINISTRATION VIEW OF ENERGY POLICY REPORT

TESTIMONY-BY: SHERWOOD BOEHLERT, REPRESENTATIVES

AFFILIATION: US GOVERNMENT

BODY:
June 21, 2001

CONGRESSMAN SHERWOOD BOEHLERT (R-NY) OPENING STATEMENT FOR HEARING WITH SECRETARY ABRAHAM

It's a pleasure to welcome Secretary Abraham to the Science Committee for today's hearing on the Administration's energy plan. This is the last hearing we will have on the plan before the Committee begins marking up its portion of the House energy package. We have already had two full Committee hearings and numerous subcommittee hearings to get testimony from witnesses outside government from across the political spectrum, and today, at last, we will hear directly from the Administration. It's especially appropriate that we hear from Secretary Abraham because the package we mark up will consist primarily of authorizations for existing and new DOE programs. Our bill will provide significant funding for research, development and demonstration across the full range of energy sources - renewables, fossil and nuclear - and, perhaps most importantly, for conservation. In short, our bill will reflect a balance that I fear is sorely lacking in the Administration's own proposals.

I have made no secret of my reservations about the Administration's energy plan. The general tone of the energy report was soothing and balanced, but the specific recommendations were often disconcerting and biased toward production. It's up to Congress to write new lyrics to fit the report's pleasant tune. For example, the energy report talks about the importance of research on renewables and conservation, but provides no funding to carry out such programs.

Happily, on a bipartisan basis, the House today will begin to reject proposed budget cuts in these areas.

The report calls for a review of programs in renewables and conservation - and a review is certainly warranted - but no such review was requested in other research areas, such as clean coal, which raise at least as many management questions. And I say that as someone who supports clean coal funding.

The report calls for more stringent efficiency standards on appliances, yet the Department is back-pedaling on new standards for air conditioners. And it is difficult to reconcile the energy report with some of the President's most recent statements on climate change.

I hope the Secretary today will help us address some of these contradictions. I might add that the contradictions are not limited to issues under DOE's purview. Recent statements on CAFE standards, for example, have created much confusion as to where the Administration truly stands on this essential issue. But despite all these concerns, I remain optimistic. The good news is that the Administration has finally gotten the nation to focus on energy policy after too many years of neglect. And the plan itself is a work in progress.

I look forward to working with the Administration and with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and across the ideological spectrum to craft an energy policy that will address supply and demand, energy and the environment. We can do that, and we must. The American people expect that - as the poll in today's New York Times once again makes clear.

Energy is too important an issue for each of us to just retreat to our ideological comers. We need to be pragmatic and comprehensive and bipartisan. And I hope this Committee can lead the way in showing the Congress how to do that, just as we did last week on education.

Mr. Hall?



LOAD-DATE: June 26, 2001