Energy Plan Needs a Boost
Oil prices soar to records and a profit-hungry OPEC couldn’t care less about matching production to growing demand. The Democrat running for president demands that the nation divert oil headed into its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease spiraling fuel prices, and Californians are forced to pay a needless premium for cleaner-burning gasoline. There’s a reason this sounds depressingly familiar. Substitute John Kerry for Al Gore and nothing has changed in four years -- and Americans risk repeating the scenario in 2008 unless Washington gets serious and adopts a sensible, realistic energy policy.
Unfortunately, the latest national energy plan, which the Senate could take up later this month, is as bad as last year’s version, which was so pork-laden that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) derided it as the “leave no lobbyist behind” bill. But hours after OPEC made its production cut official Tuesday, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) mixed angry bluster and patriotism to urge Congress to pass an energy bill “for the sake of our economy, our consumers and our national security.”
His outrage is justified, particularly against Saudi Arabia, which sees everyone’s gluttony and greed other than its own. But Domenici’s S. 2095 is as bloated and indefensible as last year’s energy bill, which, thankfully, died with a Senate filibuster. His latest legislation relies again excessively on costly subsidies to the coal, gas, oil and nuclear industries. It barely mentions conservation, the fastest way to cut dependence on foreign energy. The Senate should reject this “Domenici Lite” and its attempt to favor a rich few by offering pork-for-support to so many.
Senators, instead, should adopt the Democrats’ better way -- break up the bill so specific energy issues get judged on their merits. They could, for example, pass S. 2236, which would set standards for the reliability of the nation’s aged, electric transmission grid, as suggested by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) wants a controversial ethanol proposal voted on separately.
Ethanol needs closer attention as a fuel, especially from the Environmental Protection Agency. It should grant California’s request to waive a rule forcing motorists to pay a premium for fuel with this costly additive. Californians already pay some of the highest gas prices. Refiners could be producing cheaper, clean-burning alternatives if Californians weren’t forced to subsidize Midwestern farmers who grow the corn to produce ethanol. Alas, this is just another example of politics supplanting sense. But in an election year, perhaps a summer made long by blackouts and lines for gasoline, followed by a winter with sky-high heating bills, will finally get Congress energized.
