Date:     Thu, 4 Apr 2002 00:05:31 -0800
Sender: Sierra Club California Activists List       

Two Green Groups Turn On Senate Energy Bill


Date:    Wed, 3 Apr 2002 14:01:00 -0800
From:    Eric Wesselman <[log in to unmask]>

Sierra Club does the right thing on Senate energy bill:

Energy Daily
April 1, 2002, Monday
Two Green Groups Turn On Senate Energy Bill
BY CHRIS HOLLY

Two national environmental organizations announced Thursday they now oppose
Democratic energy legislation under debate in the Senate, saying that
amendments approved during the past two weeks have weakened the bill to the
point that it would neither reduce America's dependence on imported oil nor
improve the nation's environment.

While the announcement marks the first chink in what has been strong
support for the Democratic bill within the environmental community, it is
not expected to lead immediately to further defections from that camp nor
spark an uprising among rank-and-file Democrats against the legislation.
Other environmental organizations said Thursday that they are taking a
wait-and-see stance on the bill, with an official from an influential
group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), saying, "the fight is
not over."

The two dissenting groups, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG)
and the Sierra Club, pointed to the Senate's failure to approve an
amendment to boost federal corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards
for motor vehicles and other changes they said have dramatically weakened
the underlying legislation, introduced in December by Senate Majority
Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). "The Daschle bill began as a promising
start toward a clean energy future," said U.S. PIRG Legislative Director
Anna Aurilio. "But as it stands today, it's an unacceptable bill and we
oppose it."

The Senate last month approved an amendment by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
and Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) giving the federal government up to two years
to craft new motor vehicle fuel economy standards. It also approved another
amendment permanently freezing CAFE standards for pickup trucks at the
current level of 20.7 miles per gallon (mpg). Sponsors of an amendment to
boost the CAFE standard for most vehicles to 35 mpg withdrew the measure
after seeing the strong support for the Levin-Bond amendment.

In addition to the CAFE defeats, U.S. PIRG and the Sierra Club oppose
Senate-approved changes in the bill's electricity title that they said
weaken federal oversight of utility mergers. They also criticized
provisions reauthorizing Price-Anderson Act liability protection for
nuclear power plant operators and an amendment delaying final regulation of
"hydraulic fracturing," a natural gas extraction technique in which fluids
are injected underground to improve gas production.

Debbie Sease, legislative director for the Sierra Club, said these and
other changes in the legislation prompted the group's decision to "send a
message to the Senate" that it would be held accountable for its votes.

NRDC joined U.S. PIRG and Sierra Club in producing a report released
Thursday that is highly critical of the changes made to the bill on the
Senate floor. The report, a so-called "Senate report card" assessing grades
to each senator based on their votes on five key amendments, said only nine
senators voted the "green" way on all five issues while 40 percent of the
Senate voted the "wrong" way on each issue.

But the NRDC stopped well short of opposing the bill Thursday, saying that
the debate is continuing and that opportunities will come to strengthen the
legislation when the Senate returns from its spring recess next week.

"The game is not over yet," NRDC Legislative Director Alys Campaigne said.
"There are critical votes to come."

Campaigne pointed to upcoming votes on likely amendments to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration, to weaken federal
energy efficiency standards for residential central air conditioners and to
shift tax incentives targeted at renewable technologies and energy
efficiency improvements to fossil fuel production.

Also, Campaigne said, a provision in the bill to require industrial sources
of greenhouse gases to register their emissions is "under assault" and
would be closely monitored by NRDC and other groups.

Campaigne said the Energy Department's release of documents last week
related to the development of the Bush administration's national energy
policy may heighten national attention on the energy bill debate when the
Senate returns next week.

The documents, released by DOE under court order, reveal that the
administration gave energy industry lobbyists and major GOP campaign
contributors far more access to key officials developing the policy than it
gave to environmental groups.

Bingaman, characteristically, is taking the environmentalists' report in
stride, Senate energy panel spokesman Bill Wicker said.

"We're happy to have this report and we'll take note of it," Wicker said.
"I will allow that it is a little puzzling why they are being so harsh to
their friends."