A comprehensive approach to energy and climate legislation?
Posted May 21, 2009 at 7:38 am 
Filed in: Kudos to House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV), who announced yesterday (as reported this morning in Environment & Energy Daily, http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2009/05/21/ ) that he intends to have his Committee report out legislation promoting domestic natural gas and oil production on the outer continental shelf and federal lands — and then seek to add that legislation to the climate and energy bill currently under consideration in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
While it would be great if this move was part of a bipartisan, comprehensive energy strategy, E&E reports that ”House Democratic leaders have not requested the language.” To his credit, Chairman Rahall said he would move “preemptively.” ”We know gas prices are inching back up. More than inching back up, as we speak. And it’s what I think should be part of a responsible, comprehensive, pro-energy bill.”
Chairman Rahall is absolutely right. New domestic supplies of natural gas and oil are critical to maintaining our energy security as we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning to a low carbon economy. A future world where the electricity needs of the US (and the world) are met by nuclear power, advanced coal-fired generation with carbon capture and storage, and renewable power — and the transportation sector is largely dependent on electricity rather than petroleum and other liquid fuels — is just that: a future world.
In the meantime, as Daniel Yergin pointed out in a hearing yesterday before the Joint Economic Committee (also helpfully reported on by E&E):
“When economic growth resumes, so will growth in energy demand. Policy decisions, in the longer term, need to protect the economy and consumers. As part of a long-term view, we need to get beyond an either-or energy debate and take a more ecumenical approach with more conventional sources, renewables and efficiency with appropriate environmental and climate change consideration.”
Being honest about the true impacts of climate change legislation on our future energy security naturally leads thoughtful leaders like Chairman Rahall to conclude that promoting low-cost, environmentally sensitive domestic natural gas and oil production is part of a comprehensive strategy on the road to a clean energy future — not an alternative path to be avoided. Natural gas can play an increasingly important role in cleaner electricity generation; and domestically-produced petroleum — with a carbon footprint smaller than imports — can generate royalty revenue that will fund research and development needed to reduce costs and increase availability of cleaner sources.
Given the religious fervor with which many past energy debates have occurred, Yergin’s call for an “ecumenical approach” is probably about right. Just as the embrace of religious diversity has been a pillar of America’s domestic security for the last two centuries, embracing a diverse energy portfolio will be a pillar of American energy security for the 21st century. Continued intolerance of conventional energy sources and a blind faith in the power of largely untested or unscaled clean energy alternatives may be tempting to politicians. Let us hope they are given the strength to resist that temptation.
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