Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Tuesday will propose a major energy bill that represents the Democratic vision for the nation’s energy future, one that cuts greenhouse gas emissions and promotes clean energy.
The bill is meant to counter the Republican agenda that seeks to boost oil production and delay climate change regulations for power plants.
“This Tuesday, a group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will introduce a national energy bill that lays out a Democratic vision for a cleaner energy future,” the committee said Monday in a statement previewing a press conference to unveil the major legislation.
Although short on details, the statement says “[t]he bill addresses the need for new jobs, updated infrastructure and technological innovation.”
“Specifically, the proposal includes programs essential to renewed economic growth in the energy sector that empower consumers, modernize infrastructure, cut carbon pollution and waste, invest in clean energy technologies, and support research and development,” the statement reads.
Cantwell had been integral in passing a bill pushed by Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the Republican chairman of the energy committee, ahead of the August recess. Murkowski also passed a bill out of committee that would lift the 40-year-old ban on oil exports, which Cantwell did not support. Cantwell and several others fear that lifting the ban would increase gasoline prices in the states, although a government study said it most likely would not raise prices.
