The energy bill was developed in the House-Senate joint conference under the leadership of Sen. Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Tauzin (R-LA). They have packed this bill with many horrible provisions that will pollute our nation's air, land and water. Senators and Representatives cannot amend the bill now when it goes up for a final vote and therefore need to oppose it.

The Energy Bill threatens the air we breathe . . .

The Clean Air Act was created by Congress to protect the quality of the air we breathe. However, the "dirty air rider," snuck in behind closed doors during conference, attempts to drastically weaken clean air protections for some of the most polluted cities in the nation. These unfair provisions would allow certain cities to seek delays in implementing health-protecting clean air measures already adopted in cities across the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. Even worse, this rider could force millions of Americans to breathe dirty air long past current cleanup deadlines, and mean more days when children, senior citizens and others are exposed to dangerous levels of pollution just by stepping outside their front doors.

...and threatens our water.

Another rider threatens 30 years of work to clean up our nation's waters. Oil and gas industry lobbyists are trying to get Congress to give them an exemption from Clean Water Act provisions that limit stormwater pollution from construction sites that can kill fish and even may contain toxic chemicals, such as benzene, toluene, and heavy metals that also pollute our nation's waters, even threatening the safety of drinking water supplies. Under the Clean Water Act, businesses must take steps to limit polluted runoff from construction sites--runoff that causes excess sediment to build up in streams and rivers, killing fish and other aquatic life.

EPA has required all construction activities that disturb greater than one acre of land to obtain stormwater permits. Yet the oil and gas industry thinks they should not have to comply with the law--they want Congress to change the law so they can pollute without limits that apply to other companies. They managed to slip a provision in the House version of the energy bill that would give them this special interest loophole.

It threatens our public lands . . .

Instead of enhancing our energy and national security by reducing our dependence on oil, the energy bill would deepen our dependence and effectively make oil and gas development the dominant use of our public lands. All other uses such as hunting, fishing, camping, and habitat for wildlife would have to take a backseat to oil drilling wells, polluted air and streams, and thousands of new roads.

Over the past 50 years, Congress has mandated a "multiple use" principle--all uses such as energy development must be balanced with all other uses and values including protecting wildlife and habitat, air, watersheds, recreational uses, wildlands, cultural and agricultural sites, and private property rights of residents who own the surface rights but not the mineral rights underneath them. This bill would clearly place oil and gas development above all other uses, upsetting the balanced approach to public lands.

The bill seeks to require federal land managers to determine whether programs to protect wildlife, watersheds, wildlands, and recreational activities would have "a significant adverse effect" on energy development before "taking action" to implement such plans. In addition, language has been inserted that opens up more public lands to drilling and expedites the approval of drilling permits. The bill seeks to give BLM just ten days to review lengthy permit applications that applicants may have taken up to two years to complete. The measure also biases the BLM toward approving completed permit applications, by allowing just 30 days for the agency to either approve an application or offer specific suggestions for "any steps that the applicant could take for the permit to be issued."

Language was also inserted that seeks to authorize the Secretary of Interior to lease 100 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, without ensuring permanent protections for important conservation areas or regard for wildlife habitat, native hunting and fishing, water quality, or other non-commercial values.

...and our health.

In addition to the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and public lands give-aways, the Energy bill also contains several other special-interest provisions, including:

• Language that attempts to exclude drilling fluids--many containing diesel fuels and other potentially toxic chemicals--from being considered drinking water pollutants under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
• An unprecedented waiver of liability for manufacturers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has poisoned drinking water wells nationwide.