Isakson: Congress Must Put Aside Partisanship, Work Together to Address High Energy Prices

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today (July 15, 2008) urged members of Congress to work together to develop a comprehensive plan to address high energy prices during a speech on the Senate floor. Isakson said solutions that embrace all ideas – from conservation to increased domestic exploration – are at our fingertips if only members of Congress would put aside their partisan differences.

“The Congress of the United States is sitting on a ham sandwich starving to death,” Isakson said. “America has within its reach every resource necessary to be self-sufficient when it comes to energy. All we have to do is have the political will and the common sense to make it happen.”

In his remarks, Isakson outlined a number of initiatives he believes will provide a balanced approach to America’s long-term energy needs, including oil and natural gas exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf, nuclear energy, conservation and renewable resources such as solar and wind energy.

“I call on my colleagues, Republican and Democrat alike, to put their elephants and donkeys in the barn and look at the needs of the American people,” Isakson said. “If we leave this year without a comprehensive policy for energy independence, we have done a disservice to the people of the United States and we will not have fulfilled our Constitutional responsibility.”

Isakson praised the administration for its announcement on Monday that it is lifting the ban on offshore exploration, saying that we cannot decrease our dependence on foreign oil if we fail to explore our potential domestic supply.

“That is absolutely something that we ought to do,” Isakson said of the offshore exploration. “We should be exploring every resource that we have.”

Isakson is a part of a bipartisan group of senators led by Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., that are committed to working together on legislation to address the nation’s energy crisis.

Chambliss Highlight Georgians’ Concerns about Rising Gas Prices

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., took to the Senate floor today in his continued effort to highlight Georgians’ concerns over rising gas prices and to urge Congress to take steps to increase oil supply by allowing for domestic exploration. Chambliss has been urging Georgians to contact his office and share stories about how rising energy costs are affecting their daily lives. Chambliss said he believes drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), as well as accessing shale in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States should be pursued in an environmentally safe manner to increase domestic production. Excerpts of Chambliss’ floor speech are below:

Mr. President, my constituents continue to suffer due to the ever-increasing price of fuel. They are facing very difficult choices, between food and gasoline, between driving to work to earn money for their families and driving to the grocery store to feed their families.

I was pleased to hear yesterday both President Bush and Senator McCain highlight their support to lease off the Outer Continental Shelf so we can increase our supply of oil to help lower energy prices for all Americans. Is drilling domestically the only answer to high gas prices? Absolutely not. There are other parts to the equation, but this is the right way to go.

In 2005, we suffered the most significant damage in the Gulf Coast region of our country as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We saw not one drop of oil spilled even though there are hundreds and hundreds of oil-producing platforms in that area. I come from a coastal state. There is nothing that I want that would in any way endanger the pristine beaches in my state or the costal regions of any other state. But we now have the technology in place to ensure that never happens. Secondly, we can do this in a way that ultimately lets the individual coastal states decide whether or not to opt out of this moratorium.

I'm hopeful that the Senate will come together to take this first step to increase our supply. Would I like to see more development? Sure. I support the development not just off the Outer Continental Shelf, but in other regions of our country where we know we have vast resources of energy, whether it's on the Outer Continental Shelf, whether it's in the shale of the Rocky Mountains, or whether it is in ANWR of Alaska or other areas of the country where geologists are fairly certain we do have additional resources. We need to explore so we can add to the supply that we have so in the long-term and shore-term, we can see gas prices in this country stabilize and begin to come back down to something more reasonable than what we're looking at today.

Chambliss is a co-sponsor of S.2973, the American Energy Production Act, which aims to lower the cost of energy by increasing domestic production of oil and gas in America. Specifically, the bill would authorize oil and gas leasing in the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), if states chose to do so. It will also authorize oil and gas leasing in ANWR, and suspends filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) through the end of calendar year 2008.

Senator Chambliss’ floor remarks can be viewed in their entirety on his website later today at www.chambliss.senate.gov.

Isakson Criticizes Climate Change Legislation for Failing to Address All Renewable Resources

Arguing that the legislation fails to address the development of all renewable energy resources, especially nuclear energy, as part of the solution, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today criticized legislation that would cap emissions of greenhouse gases during a speech on the Senate floor. Isakson also called for the expansion of nuclear energy, which he believes is a clean, efficient and economical alternative fuel.

“It is time to put our biases aside. If there is a known solution where we can reduce carbon, expand the energy availability and reduce costs, we ought to embrace it. Nothing should be off the table,” Isakson said. “We should act now and we should act boldly to see to it that while we work for the best interest of the environment, we work for the best interest of our citizens, who are paying more for gas and energy than ever before and there is no end in sight.”

Isakson believes it is in America’s environmental and geopolitical interest to reduce carbon emissions, and he believes it is important to address the carbon issue in the context of promoting all sources of renewable energy. He believes the United States cannot reduce carbon levels without reducing the burning of fossil fuels, and it cannot do that without expanding nuclear energy.

Isakson plans to introduce an amendment providing incentives for pursuing the development of nuclear energy in the United States. Specifically, it provides an investment tax credit for nuclear power facilities and creates incentives for domestic manufacturing of nuclear equipment. It also aligns accelerated depreciation for nuclear with other renewable fuels and clarifies the rules on loan guarantees for innovative technologies, including new nuclear capacity.

Additionally, the amendment requires the Department of Labor to implement training programs for nuclear workers and authorizes federal funds for use in implementing a program to provide workforce training to meet the high demand for workers skilled in the nuclear utility and nuclear energy products and services industries.

Isakson also plans to introduce an amendment promoting conservation easements that would provide tax credits for private landowners who agree to keep their land undeveloped.

“We need to be serious as members of the Senate and as members of the most deliberative body in the world to make sure that every option is on the table,” Isakson said. “For this senator, that means expanding conservation easements for better sequestering of carbon naturally and empowering the nuclear energy business to see to it that the one source of reliable, safe, carbonless energy that we know today in the United States of America is empowered for the 21st century.”

Rep. Gingrey speaking on the gas price situation

Gingrey has co-sponsored a bill – H.R. 3089, the No More Excuses Energy Act of 2007 – which "will require the federal government to get serious about increasing domestic energy production that will lead to a decrease in the amount we pay at the pump".

http://www.cq.com/floorvideo/play.do?id=185b649ee920485e3e8476775e7bd791547f6f160522da861e39907f3e9766eac9175bed86fe51749e8569ca09d9f94113b21fa3efce182a319c437e2076d45de963b5d8b8f11981