Passing the Energy Bill

By Travis Williams

The past four months have brought the US energy policy into one of the most imperative issues the country has had to deal with since the oil embargo back in the 70's. Rising energy costs, oil disasters and a general feeling of discontent with the amount of greenhouse gasses the country produces have led to the creation of a new energy regime.

The energy bill which is now circulation through the Senate like second helpings of rotten potato salad, has not been passed. The energy bill includes raising energy-efficiency standards, making it mandatory to require utilities to get 15 percent or more of their power from renewable sources, while creating a limited cap on carbon emissions from power plants that emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses.

The problem is that members of the Senate cannot come to a general consensus as to what the energy bill should entail and how it can fuel both job creation and secure energy policy. Members of the GOP insist that the bill will not create jobs, but instead stunt the industry, taxing large utility companies who will be forced to lay off workers, hurting an already battered economy. Independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Democratic Senator John Kerry suggest a different outcome of the bill, which will create incentives for business to adopt cleaner technology such as wind and solar, while creating new jobs in the industry.

In a recent Op-ed piece for the New York Times, the Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary, Thomas Friedman, makes the situation clear and direct: "...pass an energy bill that begins to end our oil addiction, we can shrink the piles of money we send to the worst regimes in the world, strengthen our dollar by keeping more at home, clean up our air, take away money from the people who finance the mosques and madrassas that keep many Muslim youths backward, angry and anti-American and stimulate a whole new industry — one China is already leapfrogging us on — clean-tech. Nothing would improve our economic and national security more, yet Republicans won’t lift one finger to make it happen."

Senator Reid, who has been trying to get common ground between parties with the energy bill since mid June, scheduled a meeting for today. The goal is to try and figure out exactly what the energy bill contains, which is easier said than done.

Our hope is that we can come together to pass a clean energy bill which will create jobs and sustain a path to energy independence. We must take this chance to pass the bill because if we don't, the next couple of years could come with devastating and unpredictable environmental disasters.

Moreover, as Friedman notes: "If we don’t get a serious energy bill out of this Congress, and Republicans retake the House and Senate, we may not have another shot until the next presidential term or until we get a “perfect storm” — a climate or energy crisis that is awful enough to finally end our debate on these issues but not so awful as to end the world