Energy Policy Proposals from the 110th Congress

H.R. 3221 [1] (House Energy Bill): New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act. This is the House of Representatives’ energy bill for 2007. The following summary includes only the provisions most pertinent to climate change.

· Among other provisions, the bill makes a Congressional declaration that it shall be United States policy to engage in international climate negotiations with the objective of creating a new instrument that will come into force by the time that the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. Such an instrument will, at a minimum, require binding mitigation commitments from all major emitting countries. The title also mandates the creation of an Office on Global Climate Change within the State Department.

· The bill also authorizes funds to promote research in solar energy, biofuels, marine renewable energy, and geothermal energy, and authorizes funds for carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration.

· In addition, it directs the President to “establish an interagency committee to ensure cooperation and coordination of all Federal research activities” pertaining to human-induced or natural changes in the global environment, including global climate change.

· The bill contains provisions which direct each federal agency to annually inventory and report its GHG emissions, and requires the EPA to promulgate annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets for the total emissions of all agencies taken as a whole, for each fiscal year from 2010 through 2050.

· The bill also sets GHG emissions standards for federal vehicle fleets, based on the California Code of Regulations, and requires the Secretary of Energy to establish new efficiency standards for federal buildings.

· The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a methodology for assessing the nation’s capacity to store carbon dioxide in geologic formations. It also requires the Secretary to conduct an assessment of the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal ecosystems, including estuaries; and to determine the potential for increasing carbon storage in natural ecosystems.

· It also requires the Secretary of the Interior to create the National Resources Management Council on Climate Change to address the impacts of climate change on Federal lands, the ocean environment, and the Federal water infrastructure. It requires the Secretary to promulgate a national strategy for assisting wildlife populations and their habitats in adapting to the impacts of global warming. The title also directs the Secretary of Commerce to develop and implement a national strategy to predict, plan for, and mitigate the impacts on ocean and coastal ecosystems from global warming, relative sea level rise and ocean acidification; and ensure the recovery, resilience, and health of ocean and coastal ecosystems.

· The title also authorizes $250 million to establish a National Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System to improve the nation’s ability to measure, track, explain, and predict events related directly and indirectly and indirectly to weather and climate change.

· The Transportation and Infrastructure section of this bill, among other provisions, mandates the establishment of a Center for Climate Change and Environment within the Department of Transportation, which would plan, coordinate, and implement department-wide initiatives and research to reduce transportation-related energy use, mitigate the effects of climate change, and address the impacts of climate change on transportation and infrastructure. The title also directs Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the EPA to report to Congress on low-cost solutions to reducing congestion and transportation-related energy use and mitigating the effects of climate change.

· The Energy and Commerce section of this bill contains a number of energy efficiency provisions, among them: improving the schedule for consensus standards, updating appliance test procedures, new efficiency standards for lighting, residential boilers, industrial motors, washing machines, and dishwashers. The title also establishes new efficiency standards for power supplies and transformers for consumer electronic equipment.

· In addition, the bill mandates the creation of an Office of High-Performance Green Buildings, and sets out increased efficiency standards for federal buildings, as well as increased efficiency standards for state residential and commercial building codes. It also authorizes grants to support state implementation of green building codes.

· The bill also provides technical assistance and a revolving fund for implementing combined heat and power (CHP) systems and sustainable energy infrastructure. It contains a number of provisions promoting creation of a Smart Grid, and mandates the promulgation of a National Action Plan for Demand Response.

· The tax provisions of this bill expand and extend tax credits and deductions for renewable energy, energy efficient appliance credit for a variety of appliances produced after 2007, energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction for five years (through December 31, 2013), and allows electric utilities to depreciate smart electric meters over a five year period. In addition, the bill orders the Secretary of the Treasury and the National Academy of Sciences to review the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.

· The bill also establishes a Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard, which would require an increasing percentage of base electricity supply generated by retail electric suppliers to be generated from renewable energy sources. Starting in 2010, 2.75% of annual base electricity supply must be generated from renewable energy sources, rising to 15% by 2020 and maintained at 15% until 2039. Energy resources considered renewable by are solar (including solar water heating), wind, ocean, tidal, geothermal energy, biomass, landfill gas, or incremental hydropower.

Sponsor: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (18 cosponsors) Action:
8/4/2007: passed the House by 241-172.

H.R. 6 (Senate Energy Bill): [2] Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This is the omnibus Senate energy bill for 2007. It contains a variety of provisions intended to promote the development and deployment of biofuels, energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage, environmentally sustainable public buildings, and includes a measure to increase the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard. This summary will focus on those provisions most directly relevant to climate change.

· Among other provisions, the bill establishes a renewable fuel standard, to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, with 21 billion of those gallons to be from advanced biofuels. The bill mandates that renewable fuels produced from facilities that commence operations after enactment shall achieve at least 20% reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared to gasoline. The bill also directs the Presidnet to establish criteria for a system of voluntary labeling of renewable fuels based on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

· The bill directs the President to establish a program to provide grants for research support to facilitate the development of sustainable markets and technologies to use woody biomass and other low carbon fuels, including research into methods of assessing and certifying the impacts of low-carbon fuels with respect to reductions in lifecycle GHG emissions, among other impacts.

· The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to encourage the production of advanced biofuels. It requires the Secretary to award grants to the proposals for advanced biofuels with the greatest reduction in lifecycle GHG emissions compared to the comparable vehicle fuel lifecycle emissions in calendar year 2007, with at least a 50% such reduction needed to be eligible.

· The bill amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the EPA to work with the EPA to conduct 2 studies on the effects of increased domestic use of renewable fuels under this act, including an assessment and quantification of significant changes in GHG emissions, among others.

· Among other provisions, the bill directs the Secretary of Energy to conduct an applied research program for plug-in electric drive vehicle technology, including development of control systems optimized for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; it also directs the Secretary to establish a competitive program to provide grants for demonstrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As part of the criteria, applicants are required to record GHG emissions.

· The bill also amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training. It directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for States to administer renewable energy and energy efficiency workforce development programs, and requires the Secretary to give priority to those States whose programs will be in line with meeting national and State goals for reducing GHG emissions, among other goals.

· The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a national assessment of the quantity of carbon stored in and released from terrestrial ecosystems, including from human-caused and natural fires, and the annual flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the assessment, the Secretary must determine the processes that control the flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems; estimate the potential for increasing carbon sequestration in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems; develop near-term and long-term adaptation strategies or mitigation strategies that can be employed to enhance the sequestration of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, to reduce emissions of GHGs, and to adapt to climate change.

· The bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a method for measuring, monitoring, quantifying, and monetizing covered GHG emissions and reductions, including methods for allocating and managing offsets or credits.

· The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations to achieve a combined standard for passenger cars and light trucks of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. For model years 2021 through 2031, the Secretary would have to establish the "maximum feasible" standard for the fleet. In establishing the maximum feasible standard, the bill directs the Secretary to consider the emissions of GHGs over the lifecycle of the fuel and the resulting costs to human health, the economy, and the environment.

· The bill amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a program to promote and fund carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration. It authorizes a total of $1.425 billion for various of activities related to carbon capture and storage, including: fundamental science and engineering research; field testing of carbon dioxide sequestration in operating and depleted oil and gas fields, and geological formations including saline formations and unmineable coal seams; not less than 7 large-volume sequestration tests involving at least 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year in a diversity of geological formations across the United States; and an assessment of the national capacity for carbon dioxide storage. The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for the demonstration of carbon capture and storage from industrial sources.

· The bill also requires the Administrator of the EPA to establish a competitive grant demonstration program for projects to capture and store or use the carbon dioxide emitted from the Capitol power plant as a result of burning coal.

· In addition, the bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a national assessment of the quantity of carbon stored in and released from terrestrial ecosystems, including from human-caused and natural fires, and the annual flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the assessment, the Secretary must determine the processes that control the flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems; estimate the potential for increasing carbon sequestration in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems; develop near-term and long-term adaptation strategies or mitigation strategies that can be employed to enhance the sequestration of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, to reduce emissions of GHGs, and to adapt to climate change.

· The bill also requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish within NOAA a program of scientific research on abrupt climate change, and authorizes up to $10 million between 2009 and 2014.

· Finally, the bill expresses the sense of Congress that “[d]evelopment of renewable energy through sustainable practices will help lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and enhance international development.

Sponsor: Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) (198 cosponsors) Action: 1/18/07: Passed the House by 264-163. 6/21/08: Passed the Senate by 62-32.

H.R. 6 (Energy Bill as passed into law) [2]: Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This is the final energy bill that was produced after negotiation among the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. It incorporates elements of both H.R. 3221 and H.R. 6.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Among other provisions, the bill establishes a renewable fuel standard, to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, with 21 billion of those gallons to be from advanced biofuels. The bill mandates that renewable fuels produced from facilities that commence operations after enactment shall achieve at least 20% reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared to gasoline. The bill also directs the Presidnet to establish criteria for a system of voluntary labeling of renewable fuels based on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations to achieve a combined standard for passenger cars and light trucks of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. For model years 2021 through 2031, the Secretary would have to establish the "maximum feasible" standard for the fleet. In establishing the maximum feasible standard, the bill directs the Secretary to consider the emissions of GHGs over the lifecycle of the fuel and the resulting costs to human health, the economy, and the environment. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also authorizes funds to promote research in solar energy, biofuels, marine renewable energy, and geothermal energy, and authorizes funds for carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill contains provisions which direct each federal agency to annually inventory and report its GHG emissions, and requires the EPA to promulgate annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets for the total emissions of all agencies taken as a whole, for each fiscal year from 2010 through 2050. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a methodology for assessing the nation’s capacity to store carbon dioxide in geologic formations. It also requires the Secretary to conduct an assessment of the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal ecosystems, including estuaries; and to determine the potential for increasing carbon storage in natural ecosystems. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The Transportation and Infrastructure section of this bill, among other provisions, mandates the establishment of a Center for Climate Change and Environment within the Department of Transportation, which would plan, coordinate, and implement department-wide initiatives and research to reduce transportation-related energy use, mitigate the effects of climate change, and address the impacts of climate change on transportation and infrastructure. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The Energy and Commerce section of this bill contains a number of energy efficiency provisions, among them: improving the schedule for consensus standards, updating appliance test procedures, new efficiency standards for lighting, residential boilers, industrial motors, washing machines, and dishwashers. The title also establishes new efficiency standards for power supplies and transformers for consumer electronic equipment. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->In addition, the bill mandates the creation of an Office of High-Performance Green Buildings, and sets out increased efficiency standards for federal buildings, as well as increased efficiency standards for state residential and commercial building codes. It also authorizes grants to support state implementation of green building codes. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also provides technical assistance and a revolving fund for implementing combined heat and power (CHP) systems and sustainable energy infrastructure. It contains a number of provisions promoting creation of a Smart Grid, and mandates the promulgation of a National Action Plan for Demand Response. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Has some renewable energy stuff (BUT NOT this - · The tax provisions of this bill expand and extend tax credits and deductions for renewable energy, energy efficient appliance credit for a variety of appliances produced after 2007, energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction for five years (through December 31, 2013), and allows electric utilities to depreciate smart electric meters over a five year period. In addition, the bill orders the Secretary of the Treasury and the National Academy of Sciences to review the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill directs the President to establish a program to provide grants for research support to facilitate the development of sustainable markets and technologies to use woody biomass and other low carbon fuels, including research into methods of assessing and certifying the impacts of low-carbon fuels with respect to reductions in lifecycle GHG emissions, among other impacts.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to encourage the production of advanced biofuels. It requires the Secretary to award grants to the proposals for advanced biofuels with the greatest reduction in lifecycle GHG emissions compared to the comparable vehicle fuel lifecycle emissions in calendar year 2007, with at least a 50% such reduction needed to be eligible.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the EPA to work with the EPA to conduct 2 studies on the effects of increased domestic use of renewable fuels under this act, including an assessment and quantification of significant changes in GHG emissions, among others.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Among other provisions, the bill directs the Secretary of Energy to conduct an applied research program for plug-in electric drive vehicle technology, including development of control systems optimized for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; it also directs the Secretary to establish a competitive program to provide grants for demonstrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. As part of the criteria, applicants are required to record GHG emissions.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training. It directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for States to administer renewable energy and energy efficiency workforce development programs, and requires the Secretary to give priority to those States whose programs will be in line with meeting national and State goals for reducing GHG emissions, among other goals.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a national assessment of the quantity of carbon stored in and released from terrestrial ecosystems, including from human-caused and natural fires, and the annual flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the assessment, the Secretary must determine the processes that control the flux of GHGs in and out of terrestrial ecosystems; estimate the potential for increasing carbon sequestration in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems; develop near-term and long-term adaptation strategies or mitigation strategies that can be employed to enhance the sequestration of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, to reduce emissions of GHGs, and to adapt to climate change.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a method for measuring, monitoring, quantifying, and monetizing covered GHG emissions and reductions, including methods for allocating and managing offsets or credits.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to establish a program to promote and fund carbon capture and storage research, development, and demonstration. It authorizes a total of $1.425 billion for various of activities related to carbon capture and storage, including: fundamental science and engineering research; field testing of carbon dioxide sequestration in operating and depleted oil and gas fields, and geological formations including saline formations and unmineable coal seams; not less than 7 large-volume sequestration tests involving at least 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year in a diversity of geological formations across the United States; and an assessment of the national capacity for carbon dioxide storage. The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a competitive grant program for the demonstration of carbon capture and storage from industrial sources.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->The bill also requires the Administrator of the EPA to establish a competitive grant demonstration program for projects to capture and store or use the carbon dioxide emitted from the Capitol power plant as a result of burning coal.

Sponsor: Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) (198 cosponsors) Action: 12/13/07: Passed the Senate by 86-8. 12/18/07: Passed the House by 314-100; 12/19/07: Signed by the President into law.

 

 

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