Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, has introduced legislation in the House that he says would created the largest investment in domestic alternative and renewable energy in the nation’s history.
Ross’ American-Made Energy Act of 2009, filed Tuesday, would expand domestic oil and gas exploration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and earmark the proceeds from lease and royalty revenues for investment in developing alternative energy sources.
Ross says the investment he estimates would be about $80 billion would create jobs and provide incentives for renewable energy projects.
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PRESS RELEASE
Ross Introduces Comprehensive
“American-Made Energy Act”
WASHINGTON – Amidst the current national debate focused on energy independence and the need to curb climate change, U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) today introduced the American-Made Energy Act of 2009 in the House of Representatives. Ross’ comprehensive legislation makes the largest investment in American-made alternative and renewable energy in our nation’s history and helps combat the effects of climate change on the environment while creating new jobs here at home. Ross, who is a member of the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, made the announcement from his Washington office during his live telephone town hall.
“The United States has been dependent on foreign oil for far too long and we must begin to develop our own energy resources,” said Ross. “Securing America’s energy future and putting substantive policies in place to drive down our soaring energy costs requires a multi-faceted approach which consists of increasing our domestic energy production, encouraging the use of alternative and renewable energy sources, promoting conservation, utilizing energy efficient technologies and helping our working families who are being strained by ever-increasing energy prices.”
The American Made Energy Act of 2009 opens up domestic resources for energy exploration and reinvests the lease and royalty revenues from the sale of this oil and gas into alternative and renewable energy sources. The bill creates a federal trust fund in which the federal share of the lease and royalty revenue from oil and natural gas production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) would be deposited. Those revenues, which are estimated to total approximately $80 billion, would then be used to fund alternative and renewable energy incentives and projects.
“The lease and royalty revenues from the sale of domestic oil and gas will help us move promising alternative and renewable energies from the science lab to the marketplace,” said Ross. “The revenues will also allow us to make resources like solar and wind more effective and more cost-efficient as we work to sharply reduce our carbon emissions while also ensuring we keep energy rates low for working families.”
The bill’s introduction comes in the middle of a national debate on climate change and how the nation can best put itself on a path to energy independence while also attempting to reduce carbon emissions that are harmful to the environment. The Clean Energy & Security Act, also known as the “cap-and-trade” and “energy tax” bill which Ross opposed in committee, could be considered by the full House of Representatives as early as Friday.
“Our policies must be broad enough to embrace all forms of domestic energy, including thoughtful investments in biofuels, nuclear power and clean coal technology,” said Ross. “The federal government cannot pick the winners and losers of energy reform in this country. While I agree we must address climate change, I cannot support the cap-and-trade bill which lacks certain provisions that protect rural areas like Arkansas and limits the ability of our foresters and farmers to have a leading role in producing American-made energy.”
A recent study by a Boston economic-consulting firm found that if this legislation becomes law, Arkansas is among a group of states that stands to suffer a 1.5 percent decline in jobs by 2030. Additionally, the bill will raise electric rates and energy prices in the region because, among other things, it currently limits the definition of biomass and refuses to allow certain existing hydro and nuclear power, many of which are in Arkansas, to count toward the proposed federally-mandated renewable electricity standard.
“We must be very careful in passing any climate change legislation to ensure that we do not enact policies that close our local factories and ship our jobs and carbon dioxide emissions overseas which would do nothing for planet Earth, but could have a devastating impact on our already fragile economy,” said Ross. “These limitations stand to increase the price consumers pay for energy while limiting the ability of Arkansas’s foresters and farmers to have a leading role in producing American-made energy.”
The comprehensive energy bill Ross introduced today – the American-Made Energy Act of 2009 – does embrace all forms of energy. In fact, it will increase domestic oil production and reinvest the revenue from its sale into alternative and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. However, oil provisions are just one part of the bill’s comprehensive plan to make the nation more energy independent. The legislation sets the strictest environmental conditions for energy development on federal lands under a “no significant adverse effect” standard using “best commercially available technology” and limits total surface disturbance to 2000 acres in Coastal Plain; requires issuance of regulations, terms, and prohibitions before implementation of the leasing program; and, requires compliance with all federal and state environmental laws, and a host of other requirements, stipulations and prohibitions.
“We can become better stewards of our environment by utilizing new technologies that will also create new ‘green’ jobs here at home,” said Ross. “At a time when Americans across the country, and especially here in Arkansas, are paying the price for America’s failed energy policies, we must begin to invest in America to provide relief to our working families, farmers and small businesses. Our nation spends nearly $500 billion a year importing energy from other nations. If done correctly, we have an opportunity to keep these dollars here at home, invest them in our nation’s economy by growing a new generation of energy innovators, increase American-made energy and create hundreds of thousands of new ‘green collar’ jobs.”
To learn more about how the American Made Energy Act of 2008 puts the nation on a path towards energy independence in an environmentally conscious way, please visit ross.house.gov and click on the energy icon.
