Latest Attacks by Republicans Adds to Worst Energy and Environmental Record in History
 
WASHINGTON (December 19, 2011) – Four years after the passage of the 2007 energy bill, the American automotive industry is coming back from the dead, led by the inclusion and manufacture of more fuel efficient vehicles. Large companies like General Electric and Sylvania are rolling out the latest in money-saving light bulbs in stores, just in time for the season of light. And buildings, appliances, and our energy grid are all working in more efficient ways due to the bill.
 
Signed on December 19, 2007 by the Republican President George W. Bush, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 passed the Senate by an 86-8 vote and the House by a 314-100 count.
 
Oh, what a difference four years make.
 
Republicans are now trying to undo the gains made in national energy policy by the bill, compiling the worst environmental record in Congressional history. Congressional Republicans are also currently using legislation to fund the government and provide middle and working class tax cuts and spending bills, to undo provisions in the bill, and to increase our dependence on foreign sources of oil.
 
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the co-author of the fuel economy provisions in the 2007 bill, today decried the agenda of Republicans that benefits oil and coal corporations, holding the American worker hostage in the process. Republicans have attached so-called policy riders onto bills to defund the enforcement of light bulb standards, perhaps allowing inefficient or perhaps even unsafe light bulbs to be placed on store shelves in America; and the forcing of a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, whose job numbers have come into question, and whose executives have said they will not consider keeping the oil here in the United States. Other riders to reject the science of climate change or delay pollution standards were stripped from the bills due to efforts from Congressional Democrats.
 
“We’re just four years removed from a bipartisan agreement that raised the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, increased the performance of our appliances, and gave us a new future of light in our homes and businesses. And look at where we are now. Congressional Republicans are playing politics with tax cuts for American workers and funding bills for our government so they can keep wasteful light bulbs on the shelf for coal companies, and force decisions on pipelines that will send the dirtiest Canadian oil to Latin America after it crosses the American Plains. The Republican energy agenda isn’t just to undo four years of progress, it’s an attempt to send us back to the 19th century of science, energy technology, and attitudes about energy,” said Rep. Markey, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee.
 
The inclusion of these policy riders only adds to the worst record of anti-environmental and anti-clean energy votes in the history of Congress, according to a report compiled by Rep. Markey along with Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.). That report, available HERE details the nearly 200 votes House Republicans have taken to allow more pollution in our water and air, deny the science of climate change, among dozens of other votes that favor fossil fuel industries over the health of Americans or promising clean energy businesses. Republicans have also attempted to block the increase of fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon.
 
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