decision
2004:
the energy debate
By
all rights, energy policy ought to be a key issue in this fall's presidential
election. Over the last four years, prices of natural gas and crude oil
have soared, major blackouts have engulfed sections of the country, and
we have troops on the ground in one of the most oil-rich nations on earth.
What's more, the future of the nation's energy system seems ever more
precarious, with an aging electricity infrastructure, tightening oil supplies,
and growing competition for energy from emerging nations such as China.
It remains to be seen whether energy can find a place among war, terrorism,
economic insecurity, and other issues in the mind of the typical voter.
The campaigns of President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry have
released detailed policy proposals, excerpted below, that deal with every
sector of the energy industry. On some topics, such as the current level
of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, there are stark differences. In other
areas, there is broad agreement.
How much different would a second Bush term be from a Kerry administration?
Campaign statements aside, it's hard to know. In 2000, George W. Bush
described himself as a "small oil person" during a debate
with Al Gore; he also called for renewed oil exploration in Alaska, a
gas pipeline from Alaska to the U.S. mainland, and development of clean
coal technologies. Those issues are still being debated four years later.
Also, in a 2000 debate, then-Governor Bush referred to an "energy
crisis." Experts can disagree about whether that term was accurate
then, or if it is accurate now. But it will likely apply soon. Which one
of these men has the best ideas for leading us through it?
BUSH
Major energy policy goals for a second term of the Bush administration
include:
• Backing a $1.7 billion hydrogen fuel initiative to develop the technology
for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks,
homes, and businesses, and the associated hydrogen infrastructure.
• Committing to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor,
a research and development program for advancing nuclear fusion technology.
•Proposing permanent authorization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,
and directing that the reserve be filled to capacity.
• Attracting new and expanded liquefied natural gas facilities through
regulatory streamlining.
• Calling for increased production of fossil and renewable energy
resources on federal lands, including measures to expedite permitting
for new energy supply and siting of infrastructure.
• Providing incentives for the construction of a natural gas pipeline
from Alaska, which could supply 6 to 8 percent of natural gas consumed
in the United States.
• Authorizing a 10-year Clean Coal Power Initiative and providing
tax incentives to research and develop advanced clean coal methods and
equipment.
• Expanding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is
designed to help low-income consumers pay their energy bills.
• Striving to increase the use of domestically produced ethanol and
biodiesel as transportation fuel (mandating an increase to 5 billion gallons
by 2012) and creating or extending tax credits for alcohol fuels.
• Increasing domestic oil and gas production using tax incentives,
royalty relief, and expanded research and development.
• Doubling funding for the Department of Energy's Weatherization
Assistance Program for low-income households.
• Creating tax incentives for residential solar and wind energy systems,
and for production of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind,
sunlight, biomass, and landfill gas.
• Improving the hydroelectric relicensing process.
• Modernizing the national electricity grid by reforming outdated
laws, promoting open access to the transmission grid, promoting regional
planning and coordination, protecting consumers, and developing and deploying
new technology.
• Fostering an expanded investment in transmission and generation
facilities by repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act and providing
increased rates of return on new transmission investments.
• Eliminating transmission bottlenecks by providing for last-resort
federal siting authority for high-priority transmission lines and expediting
transmission permitting activities on federal land.
• Reducing the likelihood of transmission grid failures and blackouts
by establishing mandatory and enforceable reliability standards for electric
utilities.
• Expanding the Energy Star program, a government/industry partnership
to promote energy-efficient products.
• Providing tax incentives for energy-efficient appliances, hybrid
and fuel cell vehicles, residential solar energy systems, combined heat
and power projects, and other fuel-saving measures.
• Promoting energy efficiency and conservation through new efficiency
standards for the federal government, increased funding for state energy
efficiency programs, and new efficiency standards for consumer products.
• Extending the Price Anderson Act nuclear liability laws.
• Modifying the treatment of nuclear decommissioning funds in order
to match nuclear power plants with the most efficient operators.
• Authorizing research and development and tax incentives for the
next generation of nuclear power plants.
KERRY
Major energy policy goals for a potential Kerry administration include:
• Creating an Energy Security and Conservation Trust Fund capitalized
by existing oil and gas royalty revenues and dedicated to accelerating
the commercialization of technologies such as more fuel-efficient cars
and trucks, the development of biofuels, and the creation of a hydrogen
infrastructure.
• Making the development of an Alaska natural gas pipeline a national
priority, and streamlining regulations and bringing together the states,
Native Americans, producers, and other interested parties to help accomplish
it.
• Developing natural gas sources in the Gulf of Mexico on areas already
open for drilling, and providing temporary incentives that encourage development.
• Increasing automobile fuel economy standards to 36 miles per gallon
by 2015.
• Cutting the federal government's energy bill 20 percent by
2020, through a variety of efficiency measures.
• Providing tax credits for the construction of energy-efficient buildings
and homes.
• Calling for a national goal of producing 20 percent of electricity
from renewable sources by 2020, and meeting that goal through a credit
trading system.
• Requiring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be more aggressive
in pursuing anti-competitive practices by utilities.
• Supporting new technologies under development to address local concerns
about the transportation of liquefied natural gas, including ship-based
systems that would allow LNG to be regasified offshore and moved to shore
by underwater pipelines.
• Modernizing the sale of mineral rights on public land by ending
the sale of federally owned land rights at $5 per acre.
• Closing the tax loophole that allows small-business owners to deduct
$100,000 for luxury sport-utility vehicles through a law meant to benefit
farmers and others from being penalized by the luxury tax that could otherwise
be levied on pickup trucks and tractors.
• Lowering the four leading power plant emissions—nitrogen
oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide.
• Investing $10 billion over the next decade to help make the transition
from the current generation of coal-fired power plants to cleaner and
more advanced coal power plants, and researching ways to develop coal-based
forms of hydrogen production.
• Suspending the filling of the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve during periods of exceptional tightness in oil markets.
• Providing $1 billion annually for 10 years to plants and component
manufacturers to pay for the conversion to build advanced automobiles.
This assistance is intended to aid manufacturers in converting their factories
and make efficient vehicles available sooner.
• Offering consumers up to $4,000 in tax credits to help them buy
advanced technology and alternative fuel vehicles by lowering the price
gap between cleaner and more efficient vehicles and conventionally fueled
vehicles.