(Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON _ Despite its title as the "American Clean Energy and Security Act," the energy and climate bill that the House of Representatives passed recently takes only a modest step toward reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Two studies project that the legislation would cut oil use in the future, but not enough to make much of a dent in dependence on oil from unstable or unfriendly foreign suppliers. Some experts say that other steps will be needed to cut U.S. oil use significantly.
The nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy examined the bill's efficiency provisions and concluded that they would save 1.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2030. That's roughly 10 percent of the projected use of 14.3 million barrels a day in that year, according to the government's Energy Information Administration.
The Environmental Protection Agency put the oil savings at 700,000 barrels a day by 2030. The EPA looked mainly at the bill's terms that would put a declining cap on the amount of emissions of heat-trapping gases allowed each year and create a pollution-permit trading system.
EPA's analysis showed only a modest decrease because the bill would have little impact on the price of gasoline _ and thus little impact on people's driving behavior and choice of cars. EPA estimated that gasoline prices would go up about 25 cents a gallon in 2030 as a result of the bill.
EPA also projected that U.S. oil use would hold fairly steady from now to 2050.
The House-passed climate legislation focuses primarily on electricity generation. Its backers said they sought the quickest and cheapest ways to bring down U.S. emissions to 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
U.S. electricity generation is half from coal and the rest mostly from nuclear energy, hydro and renewable energy. Only about 2 percent is from oil.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said that the bill, when combined with the 2007 energy bill and the president's fuel efficiency plan, would cut the use of oil by 5 million barrels a day in 2030.
The Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit energy policy center, has argued that the climate bill would help establish clean sources of electricity, but wouldn't solve the problem of U.S. oil dependence.
Amory Lovins, an energy expert who leads RMI, said he didn't object to the House bill's focus on climate, but he argued that other policies are needed to break dependence on oil. And a reduction of oil use would sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he added.
