MARKEY WELCOMES RE-DRAFTED ENERGY BILLS, LOOKS TO FUTURE DEBATE

Washington, DC - Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce committee, today welcomed recently re-drafted energy proposals during the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee mark-up.

“Today, we are taking action on better legislation  than I expected just two days ago. I welcome the decision by the chairman to drop several provisions from the original discussion drafts which would have taken our nation in the wrong direction, away from our goals of energy independence and combating global warming,” said Rep. Markey.

“The bills we are acting on today are an important starting point for this summer’s energy debate. In order to fully address America’s growing dependency on imported sources of oil and our need to jump-start the technologies of the Green power revolution, we will need to add strong fuel economy standards for cars and SUVs, adopt a Renewable Energy Standard that will mandate that utilities get an increasing percentage of their power from clean, sustainable, renewable generation sources and jump start the production of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels with improvements to the Renewable Fuels Standard.”

The provisions that were dropped from the bill were opposed by 14 state Attorneys General, 12 Democratic members of the Energy and Air Quality subcommittee, eight Governors, and the Speaker of the House.  They would have:

• Overturned the Supreme Court’s decision on Massachusetts vs. EPA regarding regulation of tailpipe CO2 emissions from motor vehicles; 
• Pre-empted California from adopting stronger standards, thereby blocking other states from adopting the California standard.
• Put in place weak fuel economy standards for cars and trucks that were insufficient to meet the challenge our nation faces from its increasing dependence on imported oil from the Middle East; and
• Increased emissions of carbon dioxide pollutants by promoting coal-to-liquids fuels. 
  The legislation being marked up by the subcommittee today includes Rep. Markey’s bill, H.R. 2528, the “Federal Building Renewal and Energy Savings Act,” as Sections 148 and 186 of the energy efficiency print.  These two sections will spur federal agencies to take all cost-effective measures to make large federal buildings more energy-efficient.

Rep. Markey concluded, “I strongly support several of the provisions before us today, especially those aimed at strengthening and expanding appliance and building efficiency standards, and reforming DOE’s management of these programs.   As we move forward with this debate, I plan to offer an amendment to strengthen the fuel economy standards of our cars and SUVs. I have confidence that this Congress can, and will, lead our nation toward an energy independent future.”

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