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More on Larry Craig's Wrap Up of 109 Congress:

Energy and Natural Resources

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, I introduced S. 1131, the Idaho Lands Enhancement Act. This bill was unanimously approved by Congress and became Public Law 109-372. It is a common-sense measure enabling the City of Boise to work with the State of Idaho and federal agencies to secure open space in the Boise Foothills and consolidate public land holdings in North Idaho, thereby conserving the unique value of the Foothills and enabling land managers to be more efficient.

Years of work came to fruition when this Congress finally approved the first comprehensive energy bill in more than 13 years. This new law ensures our secure energy future by making our country the world's leader in the use of cleaner and more efficient technologies. Our dependence on foreign sources of energy will be decreased, while the future of emission-free hydroelectric and nuclear power has been secured. The bill provides incentives to develop renewable energy, including Idaho's vast wind and geothermal resources. I was also able to win support for providing loans for biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel, as well as authorizing the construction of the next generation of nuclear plants at the Idaho National Lab within the next decade.

In addition, I was pleased to lead an effort to reduce our prices at the pump and dependence on the Middle East by opening up oil resources on public lands and off our shores. As a result of those efforts, Congress passed a bill that will increase oil production in the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Florida

From http://craig.senate.gov/wrapup 

More information on the energy bill that Larry Craig mentions can be found at the links below.

Incentives on Oil Barely Help U.S., Study Suggests  

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/washington/22royalty.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1166792909-Uy825BJVt2M7B9zeOsRe1w&oref=slogin

 

The work of the energy committee that Larry Craig worked on is here:

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=IssueItems.View&IssueItem_ID=3

 

Other aspects of the energy bill are here:

ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES:
Energy Bill

When the 109th Congress began, comprehensive national energy legislation was once again a chief priority of Republican leaders. President Bush, who had made passage of a bill a key part of both of his campaigns for the White House, hoped that Republican gains in Congress in 2004 would push energy legislation over the top. Republican leaders scored a big victory in March 2005 when the Senate attached a filibuster-proof amendment to the 2006 budget resolution to allow for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The House followed suit April 21 by passing an energy bill that includes an ANWR drilling provision as well as billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives to energy producers. The House bill also included a controversial liability waiver for makers of a potentially dangerous gasoline additive known as MTBE. A similar provision doomed energy legislation in the Senate in 2003. The Senate passed its own version of the bill June 28 that cost far less than the House version and omitted controversial provisions including the MTBE waiver. After weeks of intense negotiations, a House-Senate conference committee produced a compromise bill that did not include the ANWR drilling provision or the MTBE liability provision. Bush signed the bill in August.

From http://www.opensecrets.org/payback/issue.asp?issueid=EN5&CongNo=109

 

Analysis of the energy bill is here:

 

Key Vote Analysis

The Bush administration said this bill's $14.5 billion in tax breaks and incentives would spur oil and gas companies to find innovative ways to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, conserve resources and reduce pollution. Supporters also said the bill would lead to the creation of more oil refineries, new oil drilling projects and new nuclear power plants -- arguing that all were necessary to meet the nation's energy needs and reduce importation of foreign oil.

Opponents said the measure amounted to a give-away to large energy companies already flush with cash due to rising oil and gas prices and that it would do little to solve the nation's energy-related problems. Opponents further argued that the bill could lead to drilling in coastal and other sensitive areas and damage the environment.

The bill called for increase use of alternative fuels such as ethanol and offered incentives for development of alternative energy sources (such as wind and solar), tax breaks for hybrid cars, construction of more energy efficient buildings. The bill did not include the controversial proposal to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling, but the proposal was added to a later bill, which was defeated.

The final version of the energy bill passed both the House and Senate in late July 2005 and was signed into law by the president on August 8, 2005.

From http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/109/house/1/votes/445/

 

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