Lawmakers pushing for Bishop's energy bill

Don't be fooled by currently cheap gasoline. State legislators from around the nation said Wednesday that energy crises will reappear if Congress does not pass Rep. Rob Bishop's "Americans for American Energy Act," or something like it.

"What we need to realize is that we have a small respite here, but all is not well," said Bishop, R-Utah, about low oil prices. His bill would push greater development of domestic oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, nuclear, wind, solar and other energy sources in the "all of the above" approach favored by Republicans.

Congress had heated debates on it and other proposals when gasoline prices exceeded $4 a gallon this summer, but the debate cooled as prices dropped and other economic problems seized the nation's focus.

Bishop, as newly elected chairman of the Western Caucus, said he plans to reintroduce a revised version of the bill when the new Congress reconvenes in January. He said it will incorporate more conservation and pro-environment titles to make the bill "more green" and have wider appeal.

"The solution long-term for this problem is ... to be either energy secure, if not totally energy independent," Bishop told a rally and press conference of legislators in favor of his bill. It was held at the beginning of a conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group representing legislators nationwide, in Washington, D.C.

A parade of legislators from such states as Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Maryland spoke in favor of the bill and for pushing toward energy independence for America. Many legislators were also signing a "declaration of energy independence" for America at the event.

Arizona state Rep. Nancy McClain said, "It's important to establish a responsible energy policy for this country. ... The price of oil is coming down as we all know ... but we can't rely on that to be a continuing factor."

Colorado state Sen. Nancy Spence said, "We've got to stop being dependent on foreign sources of energy."

Outgoing Utah Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, told the group via telephone, "We've got to make sure that public lands are not off limits to energy production," and he worried about statements by President-elect Barack Obama's team that it may put many areas in Utah near national parks off limits to energy exploration.

Niger Innis, spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, told the group, "Environmental extremists and their allies in the media act like the energy crisis is over because of the drop in gas prices. What they fail to recognize ... is that the radical increase (projected this winter) in home heating costs is going to create an economic tsunami for millions of poor and working-class Americans."

He predicted that outcries over home heating costs will — like earlier high gasoline costs — make energy a hot topic for debate this year.

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