House Republicans Unveil American Energy Act

Last summer, 11 members of American Energy Solutions group traveled to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and flew up to ANWR to come up with what they termed an “all of the above” strategy to meet our nation’s energy demands. Their ideas have come to fruition and have just been unveiled as the House Republicans’ alternative energy bill.

• House Republicans recognize that as gas prices and home utility bills rise, American families are dealt an even greater economic hardship.
• The Democrats’ answer to the worst recession in decades is a national energy tax that will lead to higher energy prices and further job losses.
• Thousands of dollars in extra energy costs and millions of jobs lost is a high price to pay for an energy policy that will do very little to clean up our environment.
• The American people deserve better. The American Energy Act is an all of the above plan that will provide energy independence, more jobs here at home, and a cleaner environment.
• The American Energy Act increases our domestic supply of energy by lifting restrictions on ANWR, the Outer Continental Shelf, and oil shale in the Mountain West.
• The House Republican plan renews America’s commitment to clean and emissions-free nuclear energy.  The Department of Energy has stated the best way for utility companies to reduce carbon emissions is to increase their supply of nuclear energy.
• Despite the enormous success of nuclear energy, no new nuclear reactor has been ordered since the presidency of Jimmy Carter.  The House Republican plan builds on the success of nuclear energy by laying down a national goal of ordering 100 new nuclear reactors over the next twenty years.
• Revenue generated by the sale of leases will be invested in renewable and alternative sources of energy.  The House Republican plan also encourages conservation through proven tax incentives.
• The American people don’t want a national energy tax; they want energy independence.  The House Republican plan is the comprehensive energy solution this country desperately needs.

   

Wednesday, June 10th, Representatives Robert Latta (R-OH) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) were gracious enough to host a conference call for bloggers and energy reporters.

Rep. Robert "Bob" Latta (R-OH)

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)

 

Rep. Latta informed bloggers that right now in North Western and North Central Ohio, they are approximately 25 cents above the national gas price average due to the fact that over 80% of all of the gas being brought into the state is currently being trucked in. His constituents are concerned, as is he. Rep. Latta says that this is but one of the reasons why we have such a need for the “all of the above” approach: nuclear energy, clean coal energy, oil, natural gas, hydro, geothermal, wind, sun, biothermal, etc. The last nuclear power plant started in the U.S. was in 1977. Rep. Latta is concerned with the fact that we have so many renewable resources that we essentially are not allowing to be accessed. He states that if we can keep our money at home we will be less dependant on foreign countries and generally be more safe.

Representative Lummis is dissatisfied with the national energy tax, which is the Democratic Energy Policy. She states that we need to rely on solar, wind, and especially nuclear energy, as well as bio-fuels, in addition to oil, natural gas and coal. Wyoming is the #1 producing state of hydrocarbons, a leader in wind energy, and acording to Rep. Lummis it is the #1 producer of uranium. Rep. Lummis attended a meeting in California to learn more about solar energy projects.

Both Representatives stress the importance of relying on new technologies to power our country and lessen our dependence on foreign nations. Representative Latta’s plan will be sensitive to the environment, create jobs, and provide security to our country. President Obama says that Iran can move forward with nuclear power, but here at home he wants us to focus on wind and solar only. The Republican solution strongly supports an “all of the above” approach, which is a stark contrast to that which the Democrats are proposing.

No nuclear reactor has been ordered since the Presidency of Jimmy Carter, according to Rep. Lummis. The Republican plan has a goal of ordering 100 new nuclear reactors over the next 20 years, in addition to accessing an array of other types of alternative energy.

During the question and answer portion of the call, Representative Lummis was asked whether she would be interested in having a nuclear plant built in her home state of Wyoming. Rep. Lummis stated that it was probably impractical to have a nuclear plant built in Wyoming because of the demands for water and the importance of having the electrical generating capabilities near the user, however because Wyoming is the #1 uranium producing state, there are processes that lead up to nuclear reactors that may be completed in Wyoming. Her follow up question was whether or not Wyoming would have any interest in storing waste from a reactor. Representative Lummis stated that she was interested in recycling spent fuel in the manner which France recycles its spent fuel–a topic she says is covered in the bill presented by Rep. Latta. She says that there are abilities to recycle spent fuel rods that are in use in France, which we do not use simply because of policies that were enacted during the Carter administration. She has a desire to revisit those strategies in an effort to get as much energy out of the rods as possible, and with an end result of rendering the rods much more benign as a finished product.

The next question asked what provisions in the bill would enable the 100 nuclear facilities over the next 20 years. Rep. Latta stated that when writing the bill, those involved had to look at what the future would bring. In doing so, they looked to China, Russia, and others, and noted that the United States is way behind those countries on this front. The bill includes oversight by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 100 nuclear facilities proposed would include sites that are already licensed, being submitted by an operator in good standing, and have demonstrated the financial commitment for the long term. Lots of the components will have to come from overseas until we can catch back up with the rest of the world. Canada can get nuclear reactors built in a much shorter time period than we can, currently. These Representatives aim to change that. Offshore drilling sites would be leased, dollars would flow back from the money the bill would produce. The Democratic option picks winners and losers. The Republican version looks to stop that process because the Representatives feel that it will take everything we’ve got. The Democrats propose the cap and taxes. These taxes affect everyone from the manufacturers right down to the end users who turn on the switch every morning. Americans are taxed enough already and according to Rep. Latta, “just can’t take that hit…The Heritage Foundation has projected that to be about $4800 per family.” Everyone is a winner under this bill, the Republicans are not picking winners and losers, unlike the Democratic plan.

Representative Lummis states that the bill takes a very comprehensive approach, in particular with the trust fund which would cover recovery all the way down to research. She also stated that the 100 nuclear reactors is a proposal, which could include their megawatt equivalent. There is no short-circuiting of the process, applicants would have to comply with all safety precautions in place.

Another questioner wanted to find out the way the Republicans define their policy. Rep. Latta went back to when Speaker Pelosi turned the lights out on the floor and the representatives discussed energy. The Republicans are considering what is a base load capacity, which Latta says the Democrats are not concerned with. The “all of the above” approach, including traditional and alternative energy sources, is what the Republicans are going for. The Democrats are all into everyone having electric cars and are mutually against coal. Representative Latta asked the question, “If you’re going to have all of these electric cars, where are you going to plug them into?” What the Republicans are looking at is a broad-based, across the board, “all of the above” policy.

“There are no caps in this bill, and in their heart of hearts most of the Democrats will tell you that the caps in their bill cannot be met by 2012,” stated Rep. Lummis. The Republicans do not choose to place artificial caps in the bill. With regard to oil shale, this bill requires that the secretary will release shale within 120 days of the bill taking effect, according to Lummis. The bill is very specific and provides the final oil shale management rules.

Representative Latta concluded by providing details about specific types of diagonal drilling which would assist us in recovering the resources from places such as ANWR, while at the same time leaving the areas as pristine as possible. Once again, as the Representatives stated in their presentation, everyone wins with the House Republican Alternative Energy bill.

For more information, including the full text of the bill, please visit www.gop.gov/energy.

For your convenience, I have provided links to the literature that can be found on the GOP’s website regarding this bill. Please educate yourself on the alternative that is being presented and how it contrasts from the Democrat option that is before your Representatives. The media would have you believe that the GOP is “the party of no,” simply because they want to distract you from the alternatives that the GOP provides. Pass this information on to your friends and family members and by all means, contact your elected officials and give them your opinions on the matter.

Full Text of the American Energy Act bill

2 page Summary of the AEA bill

Full Summary of the AEA bill

Talking Points (also listed previously in the bulleted section of this article)

Energy Related Videos

Energy Related Documents

Energy Summits