Senate leadership on both sides pushes energy for gas price relief

The overwhelming topic at today's stakeout was energy legislation. The Senate Republican Conference after leaving their weekly policy lunch was very clear about their message: increase supply. They explained through Senate Energy Committee Ranking Member Sen. Pete Domenici (R-MN) a five point plan to reduce crude oil prices by increasing supply. The Republican legislation calls for 2,000 acres of Alaskan plain know as ANWR to be opened for drilling, remove the moratorium on off-shore natural gas drilling and reward the states that abut offshore drilling coasts for doing so, to utilize and stop filling the strategic oil reserve, dedicate money to construct more refineries, and to borrow technology from South Africa to substitute liquid coal for oil. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) said that a principal problem with the price of oil is speculation in the futures market. He said that a strong commitment by the Congress in future investment in building America's supply would stop speculation and immediately bring oil prices down.

The Republican statements were immediately followed by statements form the Senate Democratic leadership on their energy proposals. The Democrats began with Energy Committee Chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) who explained the Democratic legislation. He said that they too have provision in the bill to stop filling the strategic oil reserve as well as anti-price gouging provisions. Sen. Schumer (D-NY) said that their bill reevaluates the windfall profits tax on "Big Oil" reestablishing the definition of "windfall" and taxing those profits at 25 percent. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said that the Democratic legislation also attempts to regulate margins in the futures market as a solution to the "orgy of speculation" over oil prices. Majority leader Reid said that they are going to "try and take a whack" at "Big Oil" in their bill.

California's cautionary energy tale

The Competitive Enterprise Institute held a briefing with Thomas Tantan, author of "California's Energy Policy: A Cautionary Tale for the Nation," on California’s energy programs. The topic of discussion was if California's models for energy efficiency improvements can be applied to the rest of the nation. Tantan said that though the energy use per capita in California has remained the same since 1980, overall consumption and emissions have increased. He said that today, California consumes 65 percent more electricity than it did in 1980.

Tantan said that "California’s comparatively low per-capita energy use" is not primarily due to interventions and demand-side management programs, but instead to "other factors that most other states cannot replicate."

The factors he attributes the slow growth in electricity demand are the state’s mild climate, the economic structure shift from energy-intensive manufacturing to service oriented businesses, and California’s high residential property. He said California residents tend to live in apartments and smaller homes, or have more people living in the same household, because of the high property prices. He said these factors make California unique, and cannot be applied to other states.

Tantan also said that California’s Climate Policy to reduce greenhouse gas will impose a cost on the state’s economy, while only reducing California’s gross state product by 0.5 percent.

IEA Leader Nobuo Tanaka and Assistant Secretary Karen Alderman Harbert Review US Energy Policies

Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), today led a meeting used to provide an in-depth review of US energy policy.

Tanaka, along with Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the US Department of Energy, Karen Alderman Harbert, forecast how the United States could use energy more efficiently, particularly in the future. Harbert discussed the progress achieved by the Bush Administration regarding energy use and conservation.

Tanaka and Harbert urged that Americans continue to limit carbon dioxide emission in order to continue to improve our energy usage efficiency.

Tanaka maintained that the US is has been relatively successful when it comes to energy usage, but should strive for improvement. Without a conscious effort from American citizens and lawmakers, warned Tanaka and Harbert, the progress made by our nation regarding energy conservation may not be long lasting.