Insular area amendments added to energy measure

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Unanimous agreement in the House Energy and Commerce Committee was in short supply as a showpiece bill authored by chairmen Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) and aimed at moving the U.S. to a more sustainable energy future entered its second day of mark-up.

With Republicans warning of the costs to the economy of caps on carbon dioxide emitting power plants and even some Democrats from areas heavily dependent on coal or the petroleum industry sometimes splitting with leadership, the votes on amendments have at times been contentious and tense.

But one thing the entire committee seemed able to agree on was that the U.S. insular areas should be treated fairly and needed a helping hand if they too were to find a path to an energy future less polluting and less dependent on oil.

Voting Tuesday night, the committee unanimously agreed to an amendment to give the insular areas the same access as states to a grant program designed to reduce hazardous emissions from diesel engines. On Wednesday the committee again unanimously agreed to a proposal to send a team of energy and finance experts to each insular area to help local governments design a specific plan of action to get off oil and onto more sustainable sources of energy.

The amendments were based on standalone bills introduced by Rep. Gregorio “Kilili” C. (D-MP) and Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI). Sablan’s bill, H.R. 2386, makes all the U.S. insular areas—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Marianas—equally eligible for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“This program was created in the 2005 Energy Policy Act,” Sablan said. “But apparently the U.S. insular areas fell through the cracks back then. So, I introduced legislation—and all of the insular area representatives signed off—that gave us the same access to grants as each state and the District of Columbia.”

Sablan estimates that the Commonwealth could receive about half a million dollars in grants in both 2010 and 2011 from the program.

“We’ve got plenty of diesel engines in buses, trucks, boats, and power plants that are not burning cleanly and not extracting as much energy as they could from the fuel that’s being burned,” said Sablan.

“These grant funds would be used for replacing those older, less efficient diesel engines with more modern, EPA-certified engines. That will both save money and help save the environment.”

Christensen’s bill, H.R. 2385, requires the Secretary of Energy to assemble a team of technical, policy, and financial experts and send the team to the islands to develop action plans that would reduce the use of imported fossil fuels and increase the use of indigenous clean-energy resources. Christensen’s bill, too, had the support of all the Members of Congress from the U.S. insular areas.

“Even though H.R. 2385 and 2386 had been introduced, it was really the effort of Donna Christensen on the Energy and Commerce Committee that moved things forward,” Sablan explained. “She has been working—literally from morning to night—as the Committee moves through this massive energy and climate change bill.

“And when the two insular area bills, mine and hers, were offered as amendments to the larger bill, her work and the respect she has from both Republicans and Democrats paid off. Differences were put aside for a moment and everyone supported Ms. Christensen’s proposals to help the insular areas.

“We all owe her a vote of thanks for that.”

Christensen is a new member of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee in the 111th Congress. In addition to the energy bill, the committee will also be key to healthcare reform legislation now beginning to take shape in Congress. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]