As the House prepares to vote on energy reform legislation that relies on capping carbon emissions, House Republicans on Wednesday put forward a plan that would instead increase domestic oil production and the use of nuclear power.
Republicans unveiled their proposal Wednesday as an alternative to legislation written by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., that would require manufacturers, electric plants and other emitters of carbon dioxide to buy and trade pollution permits, which would increase the cost of energy and goods.
The House is expected to vote on that bill in the coming weeks, but there is no Republican support and some Democrats are also opposed to it. The Waxman bill is also less likely to pass the Senate.
“The American people want energy independence and a cleaner environment without a national energy tax,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind., said Wednesday.
“The plan we offer today is the comprehensive energy solution that this country so desperately needs, and it advances our energy independence.”
In announcing the legislation, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, denounced the cap and trade plan put forth by Democrats.
“They have this idea that they and that the government can control how much carbon dioxide goes in the atmosphere,” Boehner said.
“I just think this is lunacy. China, India, others, they have no controls like this. Matter of fact, those countries are out buying up oil and coal reserves all over the world. So rather than to have this command and control from Washington, why wouldn’t we encourage the development at a quicker pace of renewable sources of energy? Why wouldn’t we invest in nuclear energy?”
The GOP bill, like the Democratic version, is likely to draw only partisan support.
The Republican bill calls for a dramatic increase in nuclear energy by aiming to bring 100 new nuclear reactors on line in the next two decades.
That would nearly double the number of reactors now up and running in the United States.
It also calls for the U.S. to move forward on leases already granted for drilling on the east and west coasts and for states to share inthe profits if any oil is found.
The bill would also open up the Arctic Coastal Plain for oil exploration, which most Democrats oppose, and it would make it easier for new oil refineries to be built in the United States, something that hasn’t happened in decades.
Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters Wednesday that the GOP bill was not anti-conservation, but rather “shows that being conservative and green go hand in hand.”
The bill includes tax breaks, incentives and even a half-billion-dollar prize for innovation that leads to the first U.S. carmaker to sell “50,000 economically feasible, super fuel-efficient vehicles that get 100 mpg.”
