House GOP offers energy alternative to Dems' tax scheme

NY Times:

Badly outnumbered and months behind in the debate on energy and climate change, House Republicans plan to introduce an energy bill on Wednesday as an alternative to the Democratic plan barreling toward a House vote this month.

The Republican proposal, drafted by a group led by Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, leans heavily on nuclear power, setting a goal of building 100 reactors over the next 20 years. No new nuclear plants have been ordered in the United States since 1978 because of the high cost of construction and uncertainty about regulatory approval.

The bill also provides incentives for increased oil and gas production on public and private lands and offshore. It would also authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a focus of 30 years of controversy in Congress.

The Republican measure does not include any mandatory cap on emissions of heat-trapping gases, relying instead on nuclear energy, natural gas and renewable fuels like wind, solar and biomass power to reduce production of the gases, which have been linked to global warming.

“This is an alternative that takes us in the direction of energy independence and a clean environment without the national energy tax being offered by the Democrats,” Mr. Pence said.

At forums around the country, he said, people expressed a desire for more energy from domestic sources and concern about rising fuel prices. “A minority in Congress plus the American people equals a majority,” he said.

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The GOP proposal flies in the face of Democrats' twin phobias against carbon based energy and nuclear energy. It would save money and increase the economy rather than kill it as the Democrats' tax scheme would. The increased domestic production of oil and gas would generate royalties to the government to help pay down the huge deficit that Obama is running up.

The Democrat bill is really an anti energy bill. It is designed to reduce the production of energy from commercially reasonable sources in an attempt to make "alternative" energy more competitive. The Taxes on energy production in the Democrats' bill would put us in a permanent recession.