For Immediate Release: November 8, 2005 Contact: David Willett, 202-675-6698 Update on Congressional Action this Week on Several Environmental Fronts From saving face in the wake of oil company profits to weakening protections for communities, Congress tackles a number of controversial issues with far-reaching environmental and financial impacts for all Americans this week. Below are brief summaries of some of the majors issues Sierra Club is following and available for comment on. 1. Budget Reconciliation--Arctic Refuge/Off-Shore Oil Drilling (as early as Thursday) 2. Oil/Gas Hearings--Wednesday 3. National Environmental Policy Act: (Thursday) 4. "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act" (Thursday) 5. Contractor Liability/Katrina Recovery (Tuesday) 1. Budget Reconciliation--Arctic Refuge/Off-Shore Oil Drilling (as early as Thursday) Last week the Senate narrowly passed their budget reconciliation package with Arctic Refuge drilling. All eyes now turn to the House, where a vote is expected as early as Thursday on a version of the budget that includes draconian cuts to social service programs and controversial provisions to drill in the long-protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoke the 24-year old moratorium on offshore drilling. A recent report by the Department of Energy estimates that even 20 years down the road, when Arctic Refuge oil is at or near peak production, gas prices would only be affected by about a penny per gallon. And in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the knee-jerk reaction by some in Congress has been to simply add more oil and gas rigs to our hurricane-prone waters, furthering our dependence on vulnerable infrastructure and ignoring real solutions like energy efficiency. The bill would also cut funding to numerous environmental, education and social program, while allowing for provisions that sell off our nation's public lands to mining companies. 2. Oil/Gas Hearings--Wednesday Both the House and Senate plan Wednesday hearings on energy supply, with the Senate questioning the CEO's of major oil companies' record profits and the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee investigating Natural Gas prices, supply and demand. Top executives of ExxonMobil (just posted $9.9 billion in third-quarter profits, up 75%), Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP America Inc., and Shell Oil Company will all testify on Capitol Hill where just three months ago Congress passed an energy bill laden with billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to these same companies. And Congress is still considering giving these companies the Arctic Refuge and our coasts -- taxpayers would lose some of the country's most special places so that oil companies can get even richer. On the issue of capacity, even the American Petroleum Institute has stated that oil refineries are not being built because the industry, not environmental laws, don't want them. As a result, between 1975 and 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received only one permit request for a new refinery. The oil industry's decision to limit supply has generated enormous profits. Between 2001 and mid-2005, the combined profits for the biggest five oil refiners was $228 billion. The solutions are the same whether addressing Arctic and Off-Shore drilling, or rising energy prices. Instead of focusing on losing issues like giveaways to the oil industry, and drilling our coasts and the Arctic Refuge, it is time for Congress to put forward a real energy policy that will lower energy bills and cut America's dependence on oil so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. prosecute price gouging, and invest in energy efficiency. The technology exists today to raise fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon within ten years. Taking this step would save 4 million barrels of oil per day-- that is more oil than the US currently imports from the Persian Gulf and could ever take out of the Arctic Refuge, combined. It would also save the average driver over $4,000 at the gas pump over the lifetime of the vehicle. Congress should also reinvest a portion of the industry's windfall profits tax to help consumers and cut America's oil dependence. A windfall profits tax would generate nearly $20 billion a year that could fund tax credits for hybrid vehicles, mass transit, energy efficiency and consumer energy assistance. This would help put money back in the pockets of Americans who need it, not in the coffers of multinational oil companies. These real solutions will save Americans money at the gas pump, protect the environment, and cut the country's oil dependence. 3. National Environmental Policy Act: (Thursday) The Congressional NEPA Task Force, which was formed by California Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) holds its final hearing in Washington, DC Thursday on whether to weaken the bedrock protection for safe and healthy communities. Sierra Club will testify at the hearing. The 35-year old National Environmental Policy Act, signed into law by President Nixon, safeguards our nation's air water and lands by requiring federal agencies to provide an assessment of the environmental impact of and alternatives to any major federal action that could significantly affect the quality of the environment. However, there are some in Congress who want to curtail NEPA's environmental review process and public participation in the name of speeding up potentially damaging projects. The field hearings themselves invited controversy when several of the hearing venues were changed at the last minute, moving from centrally located population centers to more isolated communities, in some cases even changing from weekend to weekday schedules. In some cases proponents of NEPA were denied an opportunity to offer testimony. For example, the third hearing on July 23rd intended to cover the role of NEPA in the southern states, was moved from Houston, Texas (population 1,953,000) to the small east Texas town of Nacogdoches (population 30,000). Eight of the 10 witnesses represented mining and timber extractive industries. Local Sierra Club members asked to testify at the hearing but were turned down 4. "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act" (Thursday) The House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health also holds a hearing Thursday on Representative Greg Walden's (R-OR) logging bill (H.R. 4200) that goes even further than President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative in its disregard for important protections for clean drinking water and wildlife, and elimination of meaningful environmental analysis and public involvement required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This legislation is a gross example of misplaced priorities. We should be protecting homes and communities at risk from fires, not diverting scarce resources to damaging logging activities. Scientific research has shown that logging dead or dying trees damages streams, increases fire risk, destroys wildlife habitat and wastes taxpayer dollars. Congress has given the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management all of the authority it needs to address natural disasters and the Administration has granted itself several waivers from environmental analysis under NEPA to complete legitimate forest rehabilitation and recovery after natural events. In fact, the forest clean-up from Hurricane Katrina -- of one of the greatest natural disasters in US history -- is being managed entirely within the confines of current forest management laws. 5. Contractor Liability/Katrina Recovery (Tuesday) The Senate Subcommittee on Superfund and Waste Management holds a hearing today (Tuesday) on a bill that allows government-paid contractors in national disasters unprecedented immunity from environmental citizens suits and in many cases even liability for harm that they cause through negligence. Senate bill 1761 would apply to the Katrina disaster and any future national disasters in which federal aid costs more than $15 billion. A group of unions, community and environmental organizations sent a letter to Congress urging that relief, recovery, and rebuilding assistance in the Gulf Coast must make clean air and water for the people of the region a priority. Instead, the residents of the Gulf Coast who have already been victimized by the terrific force of these hurricanes will be victimized again by this bill, which would leave them without a remedy against government contractors that cause irreparable harm to their air and water. ### - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/