Washington, DC – June 26, 2009 – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA14) voted today in favor of legislation that would reduce global warming, make this country a leader in the field of advanced energy technology, and create hundreds of thousands of new American manufacturing jobs – all while protecting consumers.  This bill (H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act) passed the House by a vote of 219 to 212.  The American Clean Energy and Security Act must now be considered by the Senate. 

“This bill presents us with a tremendous opportunity to promote economic growth and job creation while we solve one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today,” Congressman Doyle said after the vote.  “I worked over the last six months with [Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman] Henry Waxman and [Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Chairman] Ed Markey to draft this bill, which would curb global warming by reducing our country’s emissions of carbon dioxide – and do so while creating good-paying American jobs and protecting Ameican consumers.  I’m very proud of what we have produced.” 

The scientific evidence is overwhelming that human-produced greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are raising global temperatures significantly – and that without major action by the world’s governments, global warming will cause significant suffering and economic hardship in the coming decades.  The United States, with 5% of the world’s population, currently produces 25% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions.

H.R. 2454 would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States below 2005 levels by 17 percent in the year 2020 – and by 83 percent in the year 2050.  In addition, the bill would improve our national security by ending the United States’ dependence on oil from unstable parts of the world.  Finally, the bill would make the United States a leader in alternative and renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass; energy-efficient technology; carbon capture and sequestration technology; and consumer-friendly, high-mileage cars and automobile engines that rely on alternatives to petroleum like electric batteries and fuel cells.

“This legislation would create millions of jobs and make the United States a leader in energy-efficient technology and alternative energy, much as the Apollo program made the United States a leader in technologies ranging from health care to computers – and as the Defense Department’s ARPANET program made the United States the world leader in Internet and computer technology,” Congressman Doyle added.  “Conversely, if we don’t get on board now, we’re going to be left behind, and our economy will suffer for decades to come.”

Estimates indicate that enactment of this legislation would spur up to $150 billion in new investments, which would produce nearly 2 million good new jobs. These jobs would be created in all sectors of the economy – from construction and manufacturing to transportation and computers. 

The Environmental Protection Agency recently estimated that if American Clean Energy and Security Act were enacted, the nation’s gross domestic product would grow from $13 trillion in 2008 to over $22 trillion in 2030. Moreover, failure to adopt such legislation will increase the likelihood that the United States will lose millions of good-paying high-tech jobs to countries overseas.

“The bad things people are saying about this bill are false,” Congressman Doyle observed.  “Critics of the bill say that it would impose huge new energy costs on consumers.  There’s no credible study backing them up – quite the opposite, in fact.  The Environmental Protection Agency and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office have both concluded that the bill would cost the average American household between 22 and 48 cents a day.”
 
“I worked hard to ensure that the bill contained provisions that would hold electric utility customers harmless from the increased costs associated with phasing out coal-fired power plants,” Congressman Doyle noted.  “The bill takes money paid by greenhouse gas emitting power plants and gives it to utility customers as a credit on their electric bill to keep their electricity costs low.  As a result, the cost of the bill to consumers would be minimal.” 

For example, close to a third of the households in Pennsylvania’s 14th Congressional District (encompassing the City of Pittsburgh and 53 other municipalities in Allegheny County) would actually see their electric bills drop by about $40 a year.  Higher income families would see their electricity costs increase by less than a dollar a day – about $200 a year.

Critics of the bill have also asserted that it would destroy our industries and devastate our economy.  Similar claims have been made before about legislation to improve the environment and public health – and they’ve proven to be false.  This bill would establish the same kind of solution the United States put in place in 1990 to successfully fight acid rain – after which electricity rates fell 10 percent and the U.S. economy added 16 million new jobs.  The bill is supported by a number of energy-intensive companies and labor unions representing workers in energy-intensive industries.

“This bill is necessary to make our country a leader in the technologies that I believe will drive the global economy in the coming decades,” Congressman Doyle said.  “Pittsburgh, which is already a world leader in this field, is well positioned to prosper if the American Clean Energy and Security Act becomes law.” 
 
“I was personally responsible for writing the part of the bill that protects energy-intensive trade-sensitive industries in the United States like steel and aluminum from competitors in foreign countries that haven’t adopted comparable global warming measures.  This provision also provides financial incentives to our energy-intensive industries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.”

 “This legislation would benefit our children and grandchildren by leaving them a better environment and a booming economy, and I will continue to work to get this bill to the President’s desk for his signature,” Congressman Doyle added.

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