04.22.05

Cantwell: House Energy Plan An Assault on Washington State Consumers, Taxpayers

Earth Day: House Republicans Celebrate by Foisting Groundwater Cleanup Costs onto Local Communities

WASHINGTON , D.C. – U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today called the Republican energy plan passed by the House of Representatives an assault on Washington state consumers and taxpayers. The legislation passed last night—on the eve of Earth Day—includes liability protection for producers of the chemical methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a groundwater pollutant. It's estimated this provision alone will shift $29 billion in cleanup costs onto local communities. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis, there were more than 2,600 sites in Washington state awaiting cleanup from MTBE contamination in 2002. In fact, a 2000 study from the Washington State Department of Ecology cited MTBE contaminated sites in King, Spokane, Clark and Yakima Counties.

"The House energy bill gives polluters a free ride, while local communities in Washington state and across the country are left to foot the bill for groundwater contamination," said Senator Maria Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "I'm hard-pressed to see what granting special favors to Texas MTBE producers has to do with moving this nation toward energy independence. It's an assault on our nation's taxpayers, and an assault on Americans' common-sense."

More than 90 percent of the tax breaks included in the House energy bill would go to oil, gas and other traditional energy producers—the same companies wracking up record profits while prices at American gas pumps soar. Still, the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) has concluded that the Republican energy plan will have a "negligible" impact on U.S. energy prices, supply, production and imports. The EIA also estimated that the plan would have a 0.1 percent impact on U.S. oil consumption by 2025. A recent Department of Energy study estimated that dependence on foreign oil will cost the American economy more than $150 billion in 2005—more than twice the size of our current national trade deficit.

"The House energy bill gives away billions, so we can tread water for the next 20 years and make no progress toward achieving energy security. This isn't a 21 st century energy policy. It's a bad joke at the expense of American consumers and taxpayers—and the OPEC cartel will be laughing all the way to the bank," Cantwell added. "The United States Senate has a duty to go back to the drawing board and get serious about addressing our nation's energy challenges."

The House passed its energy legislation—largely, recycled provisions of a measure repeatedly rejected by the Senate—on a 249-183 vote. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Cantwell is a member, is expected to soon take up its own energy measure.

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