02.15.06

At White House, Cantwell Questions Wisdom of BPA Rate Hike, Discusses Energy Independence with Bush

Cantwell, bipartisan group of senators to discuss plan with energy chief on Thursday

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Senate Democrats’ point person on energy issues, joined other senators Tuesday afternoon at the White House to discuss energy-related issues in the president’s budget proposal. At the meeting, Cantwell asked Bush about plans to impose a backdoor electricity rate hike on Pacific Northwest families and businesses.

“I told the president about deep opposition to his proposed energy rate hike,” said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “I’m hearing from constituents from across my state who are calling for a halt to this plan. Pushing ahead would undercut our ability to provide the affordable electricity the region’s families and business need. We’ve had regional control of our energy resources for decades, and I’m going to work to make sure we keep it that way. I’m pleased the president asked his Energy Secretary to discuss the problems with his BPA plan with Pacific Northwest senators.”

Cantwell will talk with Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday to discuss the BPA proposal at a meeting with seven other bipartisan Pacific Northwest senators who oppose this plan.

The administration’s plan would reverse a decades-old BPA policy of using revenue from surplus power sales to lower electricity rates for consumers in the Northwest. Cantwell is calling on the citizens of Washington and the entire Northwest to join her in signing a petition to demand an end to the plan to unravel BPA’s cost-based rates. The petition is posted on Cantwell’s website at http://cantwell.senate.gov/. Over 1,000 citizens have signed the petition since its launch three days ago.

At the meeting with President Bush, Cantwell also reiterated the importance of federal investments in the research needed to develop better alternative fuels and break America’s oil dependence.

“In his State of the Union address, the president said that investing in alternative fuels is key to moving our economy forward,” said Cantwell. “Today, he reaffirmed his support for the development of more cost-effective, efficiently produced alternative fuels. This is an issue I’ve been working on for years and I hope the administration is truly ready to work with me to put our county firmly on the path to energy independence. I emphasized the importance of research and development for non-traditional crops like those we grow in Washington state, as well as the need to put alternative fuels on equal footing with more traditional sources of energy.”

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