House to Consider Energy Package This Week

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When we last saw Congress, a
minority of lawmakers continued to block critical measures that could help
break America’s
addiction to oil, give consumers real energy choices, recharge our economy and
help solve global warming. Legislation to extend production tax credits for
solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources passed the House again and
again only to fall short time after time in the Senate, once falling just a
single vote short, with 59 Senators voting to end a filibuster.

This week, the House goes back to
work. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will introduce a new energy bill on Tuesday, with a
vote planned by the end of the week. It’s expected to include several items
that have already passed the House, like a national goal for getting a portion
of our electricity from renewable sources (referred to as a renewable
electricity standard, or RES), extending critical renewable energy tax credits
and rolling back subsidies for Big Oil.

Including a renewable electricity
standard in this bill would be the strongest signal yet that America is
serious about ending our dependence on fossil fuels. "The failure to close
debate was a victory for the major oil companies," reported
the Washington Post last December as Senate Republican leadership filibustered
a robust energy bill that would’ve set a national renewable energy standard of
15 percent. Right now, a patchwork of state standards fills the void created by
the lack of a national standard.

Still uncertain is whether the
bill will open more of America’s
public lands and waters to Big Oil. In the last eight years, oil and gas
drilling on America’s
public lands has increased by 260 percent while the price of gas has more than
doubled. More drilling has neither lowered gas prices nor eased our dependence
on foreign oil – it’s that simple. Even the Bush administration’s own
Department of Energy admits more drilling would only cut prices at the pump a
few cents more than a decade from now.

Congress should help lead the
clean energy revolution and develop “Made in America” solutions to give American
families real energy choices, reduce our dependency on oil, create millions of
new jobs and reduce global warming pollution. Learn more about the real
solutions that would cut our energy costs and ease our addiction to fossil
fuels in the National Wildlife
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Federation’s Don’t
be Fooled fact sheet.

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