Millennium Challenge Looks Like Texas

The White House fact sheet states that the bill encourages energy conservation and efficiency by -

* establishing new energy efficiency standards for a wide variety of consumer products and commercial appliances and offering tax incentives for purchases.

* encouraging improved efficiency in homes and buildings, establishing new aggressive federal energy savings goals, and reauthorizing the Energy Savings Performance Contract program.

* offering tax incentives for purchasing energy-efficiency hybrid, clean diesel, and fuel cell vehicles.

* requiring a new, multi-year rulemaking by the U.S. Department of Transportation to increase fuel economy standards for passenger cars, light trucks, and sport utility vehicles.

The White also says that the bill expands the use of alternative and renewable energy by -

* establishing a new Renewable Fuel Standard that requires the annual use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel by 2012.

* extending the existing tax credit for production of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, biomass, and landfill gas, and creating for the first time a tax credit for residential solar energy systems.

* authorizing full funding for the President's hydrogen fuel initiative.

* providing federal risk insurance and extending the Price-Anderson Act to mitigate the potential cost of unforeseen delays and encouraging investment in a new generation of safer, more reliable, and more proliferation-resistant nuclear power plants.

Other items to be found in the new legislation (to be signed imminently by President Bush) include -

* needed reforms to clarify the onshore oil and gas permitting process and reduce conflicts with laws and regulations addressing stormwater, Coastal Zone management, and hydraulic fracturing (for example).

* clarification of federal jurisdiction over siting of onshore liquefied natural gas facilities to accelerate development of a global market and reduce prices.

* authorization of full funding for the President's Clean Coal Initiative and updating federal coal leasing laws.

* elimination of the 2% oxygenate requirement for reformulated gasoline to improve fuel supply flexibility and reduce the number of "boutique fuels."

* mandatory reliability standards to make the electric power grid more reliable and protect against energy blackouts.

* reform of outdated tax laws to expand investments in electric transmission and generation facilities.

* establishment of last-resort federal siting authority for transmission lines deemed "in the national interest" to ensure a better functioning power grid.

* providing "encouragement" to China and India (and other nations) to deploy the cleanest and most efficient energy technologies as they develop and grow their economies.

Rep. Barton also noted that the bill extends Daylight Savings Time by four weeks to reduce energy consumption, improves current procedures for hydroelectric project licensing, and addresses the impacts of "sensitive international energy mergers" (such as the bid for Unocal by the Chinese National Overseas Oil Company) by requiring an assessment by the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security to determine possible impacts on energy security.