Sneak Preview: Energy Policy in the 111th Congress

This morning Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico came to CSIS to speak about energy priorities in the next Congress. As a long time member and current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources, Senator Bingaman is a recognized authority on energy and resource management. He is also a Washington insider with an intimate understanding of the internal workings of the legislative branch and of the difficult task elected officials face in serving the diverse interests of their constituencies. He exhibited bridled enthusiasm for past accomplishments (notably the Energy and Security Act of 2007) recognizing the amount of work left to be done to reform national energy policy.

Senator Bingaman outlined six issues that need to be considered in a comprehensive energy bill (which he argued we so desperately need), a few of which will be discussed here. The first is how to deploy clean energy technology. In the Senator’s opinion, the most promising recipient of clean, renewable energy technology is the electric grid. On the local level, many municipalities derive a part of their energy resources from renewable technologies (solar, hydro, and wind), but problems arise when trying to scale these technologies nationally. The second is energy efficiency. The Energy and Security Act of 2007 mandated a CAFE standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, but this number would still make American cars of 2020 less efficient than European cars of 2002. Senator Bingaman shied away from discussing the proposed $25 billion bailout for Detroit automakers, but the debate in Congress will continue between the Darwinians who argue that it is the nature of the market to eliminate those companies least capable of survival and the interventionists who claim that inaction will steer the market down an even darker path. The third issue is maintaining supplies of conventional fuels. The Senator endorses domestic drilling on the condition that it be carried out in an environmentally-friendly way. He also called for an assessment of available oil resources in the outer continental shelf to better address the issue of raising the offshore drilling moratorium. However, the recent announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that it would begin auctioning lands for oil exploration that are adjacent to a national park in Utah raises concerns about the effects of domestic exploration on the environment and ecotourism.

Other issues included: government support for research and innovation (are current government programs, like DARPA, effective at spurring innovation and in what other ways can the government support research and development?), a transparent energy market (current tax incentives need to be overhauled and kinks need to be worked out before a cap and trade system can be institutionalized), and striking a balance with environmental policy (we need to ensure that energy policy addresses climate change and other environmental concerns).

See more about the event here.