Energy issues require attention

May 8, 2005
By Rep. Tim Johnson

In baseball, you get three strikes and you're out. In Congress, we've been given a fourth opportunity to craft a comprehensive, and in many respects progressive, piece of legislation that will pave the way for our country to begin to exert some energy independence.

Two weeks ago, the House passed the Energy Policy Act that is an aggressive and bipartisan response to the frustrations and high costs we all feel daily. It is not perfect. As with most legislation, it is not a panacea. It won't solve all our energy woes overnight.

But in the big picture, the Energy Policy Act is a sensible, and in many ways courageous, bill that incorporates interests of citizens, consumers and communities in a valiant attempt to do what's right for our country.

I personally opposed several elements of it, from drilling in the arctic refuge of Alaska to exempting producers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from liability in the contamination of groundwater.

I also wanted higher ethanol production mandates and higher fuel efficiency standards. I didn't get all that I thought was best in the bill either.

Nevertheless, the Energy Policy Act makes substantial headway on a diversity of fronts, from ethanol production to wind energy to extending daylight-saving time.

Many of the initiatives supported by the House, and supported by President Bush, are initiatives that in 1970 would have seemed far- fetched yet are now technologically and politically feasible.

Now those kinds of ideas are part of the lexicon of policy makers and part of this energy legislation, all signs of just how far we've come.

The proposal passed by the House and now awaiting Senate action requires 5 billion gallons of renewable fuel content (read "ethanol") in all U.S. gasoline by 2015. The bill establishes a $2 billion program to help introduce hydrogen fuel cell cars into the marketplace by 2020. The bill includes financial incentives for renewable energy companies to produce electricity from alternative sources, such as wind, solar, biomass and others.

That's just the beginning, yet those elements of the legislation alone are significant in their progressive and aggressive response to reducing our nation's unreliable dependence on some narrow choices of energy.

The implications for the 15th Congressional District are not to be ignored. In the northern part of the district, along U.S. 47, are miles of prime land under consideration for large-scale wind farms. Rural investors, not to mention engineers at the University of Illinois , are poised to invest in ethanol and biomass projects holding ever-renewable promise for heating our homes and running our tractors.

In Illinois alone, there are 11 new plants proposed. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, just one plant will support the creation of nearly 700 permanent new jobs.

This legislation has foundered in the past due to partisan filibustering. This year, we have again crafted a sound bill accommodating to all interests. We certainly have more urgency in the need for passage. The pain of inaction is becoming too acute.