House Energy Legislation Is Dirty, Dangerous And Doesn't Deliver For Consumers
Statement of Gene Karpinski, Executive Director

"The energy legislation passed by the House this evening is dirty, dangerous and doesn't deliver for consumers. It's a recipe for more drilling, more spilling, more asthma attacks, more nuclear waste, and more global warming. This energy bill is good for polluters, but bad for the public.

We are disappointed that House members have voted down the Markey (D-MA)-Johnson (R-CT) Amendment, allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At the same time, the House has voted to give away more than $27 billion in taxpayer handouts to polluters. The bill rewards the polluting oil, coal and nuclear companies who have created energy problems, who are reaping record-setting profits, and who contributed a staggering $18.4 million to House members in the last election cycle. The Dirty Four oil companies who want to drill in the Arctic Refuge (BP Amoco, Chevron, Exxon & Phillips) contributed $752,038 to members of the House of Representatives.

The House energy bill does little to ensure energy efficiency -- the cleanest, cheapest, quickest and safest way to save consumers money and reduce pollution. We are extremely disappointed that the House voted against the Boehlert (R-NY)-Markey (DMA) amendment that would have required SUV's and other light trucks to meet the same fuel economy standards as automobiles. This will deny consumers savings of $16 billion at the pump by 2015. In winning this vote, the auto industry received a good return on its investment of $5,438,134, the amount to contributed House members during the 1999-2000 election cycle.

This bill does not require a significant shift to clean, renewable energy production which could make us less reliant on fossil fuels. By weakening public lands protections, the bill will help to destroy sensitive public lands.

Over the last three months, the public has made it clear that they oppose the Bush energy plan. Unfortunately, the polluters and their allies in the House have not heard them. Dirty money translates into dirty policy. We applaud House members who voted to protect the environment by rejecting this dirty and dangerous energy plan. We hope that when the Senate takes up the energy issue, they develop a safe energy plan to lead America to a smarter, cleaner energy future."

U.S. PIRG is the national lobbying office for the State Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy groups. The State PIRGs' policy paper, A New Energy Future, along with an analysis of political donations by energy interests, can be found on-line at http://www.newenergyfuture.com/.