House To Consider Energy Package

Congress must take the urgent
and necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut oil
dependency and cut global warming pollution. While National Wildlife Federation
favors many provisions in the Comprehensive American Energy Security and
Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 6899), especially when compared to the expected
motion to recommit, we oppose the bill because of its provision allowing
commercial oil shale leasing.

As a result of this provision, the
bill fails to address the fundamental challenge of avoiding significant new
increases in global warming pollution and protecting important wildlife habitat
on our public lands.

The Comprehensive American
Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act does include several important
provisions that would advance clean energy solutions and reduce global warming
pollution, including the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), tax incentives
for conservation and renewable energy, cuts in subsidies and giveaways for big
oil, and building codes that would increase efficiency in our home and offices.

Unfortunately, HR 6899 also
affirmatively lifts and does not extend a longstanding moratorium on commercial
oil shale leasing putting at risk millions of acres of wildlife

habitat throughout the
Rocky Mountain West important to hunters, anglers and other wildlife
enthusiasts.

With only three percent of
the world’s oil, the United States could drill every national park, wildlife
refuge and coastline, and still be importing most of its oil. As long as we are
dependent on oil, we are susceptible to global supply and demand factors and the
OPEC cartel, which can easily increase or decrease production to affect prices,
easily adjusting to any new U.S. oil production.

Any final energy
legislation, acted on by Congress this fall, should meet the test of giving
consumers real energy choices, reducing global warming pollution and protecting
our treasured landscapes for future generations. With the inclusion of
commercial oil shale leasing, legislation being considered by the House today
fails to meet this test — National Wildlife Federation urges opposition to it,
and the motion to recommit