Energy & Environment

The issue I’m emphasizing in my own re-election campaign is a much greater degree of energy independence. That combines with foreign policy because we really need to have that degree of independence if we are going to be successful in Africa, in the Middle East, and for that matter in the Far East. Strategically, that sets a foundation for greater success in our diplomacy. On the home front it means greater success in terms of lower energy costs, whether it be for people at the gasoline pump or homeowners and businesses. I feel this is a comprehensive way to talk about both prosperity for American families and businesses at home and much greater security for the United States abroad.

There are a whole gamut of ways we can make this happen, but they require considerable boldness and planning. I plan to take a week or more to travel around Indiana in a flexible fuel car, going to E85 pumps, to the first windmill site in Indiana, in Benton County, and obviously I’ll visit the ethanol plants. Corn and soy are two of the basic crops in our state, but likewise they are a clean, controllable technology that works. Touring the state, I’ll continually have audiences with people, drawing attention to each of these counties, each of these people who are taking courageous steps along the lines of these suggestions.

Hurricanes cause more economic damage to a more widespread area than any other natural disaster. Despite all the research we've done to date, there are still a lot of unknowns about hurricanes, predicting intensity, storm surge, and how certain structures are able to survive the fiercest storms.

From a federal level, we have a duty to invest more in research, coordinate efforts, and make the data readily available for real world applications.

Our bill, the National Hurricane Research Initiative, was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators and it takes National Science Board recommendations and builds a foundation for better, more targeted, and more coordinated research.

When the nation's farm and food programs - which annually cost taxpayers more than $80 billion - come up for renewal next year, Congress will have a rare opportunity to address, in one bill, rising energy and health care costs - as well as pressing conservation concerns such as water quality, land management and habitat protection. To seize this opportunity, I have introduced bipartisan legislation with Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) to stimulate early discussions and build support behind an effort to dramatically increase support for stewardship and renewable energy development on farms and to improve consumer access to healthier foods. In particular, our bill, The Healthy Farms, Food and Fuels Act (H.R. 6064), will double spending on voluntary stewardship incentives, provide grants and loans to farmers and farmer-owned businesses to develop clean sources of energy, and expand programs providing healthier food options for children, the elderly, and low-income families.

Rewarding good stewardship and renewable energy development and giving consumers more healthy food choices should be the centerpiece of the next Farm Bill. Congress should not settle for an extension of the status quo; rather, it should insist on a Farm Bill that helps meet our health, energy and conservation needs well into the future. The Healthy Farms, Food and Fuels Act offers such a framework and gives a bipartisan voice to all lawmakers who think current farm and food policy can be improved to better help consumers, farmers and the environment.

The Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which passed last night in the House, will help ensure that future generations of New Yorkers and all Americans, will enjoy a clean, well-preserved Long Island Sound. The legislation supplements conservation and preservation efforts along the shoreline of Long Island and Connecticut, and authorizes $25 million in federal appropriations over the next four fiscal years.

The Long Island Sound is critically important to our nation and vital to the health and well being of the communities I represent. As an Estuary of National Significance, the Sound provides habitat for a wide array of plant and animal life, and contributes an estimated $5.5 billion to the regional economy from boating, fishing and tourism-related commerce. Boating and fishing are deeply enmeshed in the culture and traditions of Long Island, and the Sound has long been our region's gateway to the seas.

Unfortunately, the effects of millions of people living adjacent to the Sound's shore have been profound. At the turn of the millennium, lobster catch rates plummeted by 90%, costing our local economy between $30 and $50 million. Dangerous levels of toxins continue to threaten the well-being of the Sound's diverse habitats and wildlife breeding areas, as well as the livelihoods of those who depend on these resources for their livelihood.

This bill is not perfect. I strongly support and will continue to advocate for funding at the original proposed level of $40 million annually. Properly conceived, the legislation should include wetlands and underwater lands within the authority of the Long Island Sound Stewardship Initiative, which will be established by this legislation. Additionally, I strongly support fully funding conservation and preservation offshore via the Long Island Sound Restoration Act, which has fallen victim to the Republican's budget cuts. The Long Island Sound, however, is a national treasure and I believe that any preservation efforts to conserve any part of the Sound should be embraced.

This week a powerful voice joined the call for increased oversight of our nation’s energy markets.

On Monday, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) voiced its support of increased government oversight of the energy market as provided in the Oil and Gas Traders Oversight Act of 2006.

This legislation, which I introduced in April with Senators Snowe, Levin, Cantwell, Mikulski, and Boxer, seeks to increase transparency and accountability so the federal government can determine if speculation or manipulation is occurring in the oil, gas, and electricity markets.

Without increased federal oversight, consumers across the country continue to be left vulnerable to fraud.  And consumers risk being unknowingly forced to pay more, while the energy companies reap larger profits. Read more...

A recent article in The New York Times revealed that four Interior Department auditors have filed a lawsuit against the agency after senior agency officials suppressed their efforts to collect more than $30 million in fraudulent royalty underpayments by oil and gas companies that are operating on public property in the Gulf of Mexico.

Upon finding this out, several of my colleagues and I called for immediate congressional hearings and investigations into these reported efforts by senior Interior Department officials to allow oil and gas companies to cheat American taxpayers out of royalty payments.  We sent letters to House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior Chairman Charles Taylor (R-NC), asking that oversight hearings be held on the matter before Congress adjourns for October.

It's bad enough that oil and gas companies are cheating the American people out of tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments, but for all of this to be happening with the blessing of senior Interior Department officials is outrageous.  The Interior Department should be in the business of fighting for the best interests of the American people, not in the business of finding ways for oil and gas companies to cheat and lie in order to make even greater profits.  We need an investigation and hearings to determine who at the Interior Department prevented auditors from going after oil and gas companies that were cheating so that appropriate disciplinary and legal actions can be taken against those senior officials. Read more...

Our vulnerable borders have threatened our security for too long and the Republican Congress won’t kick the can down the road any longer.  To address this pressing national security priority, I filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

The overwhelming majority of people who violate our borders do so in search of jobs, but not all. Some come across to deal drugs and commit crimes. Intelligence reports show that even al Qaeda considers our borders a key vulnerability. Without effective border surveillance, we can’t identify those looking for honest work from those bent on mayhem. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this bill is what is best for the American people.

Under the secure fence bill we will erect 700 miles of two-layered reinforced fencing along the southwest border with prioritized placement at critical, highly populated areas. Furthermore, the measure mandates that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) achieve and maintain operational control over the entire border through a “virtual fence

Today, I wrote to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez about some internal emails I have obtained.  The emails are interesting because they show that a press officer working for Secretary Gutierrez appeared to be making decisions about what scientific views were appropriate to share with the public and what scientific views weren't.

The email exchange took place just after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when there was great public interest in the connections between global warming and hurricanes.  The emails suggest that Commerce press secretary Chuck Fuqua, who also happened to be the Director of Media Operations of the 2004 Republican National Convention, ensured that only those scientists that were skeptical of the connection would be provided to the media.  Salon.com has obtained additional emails that suggest the Executive Office of the President was involved in approving and disapproving media requests for government scientists.

I can't help but connect this to testimony that the Government Reform Committee received in July that NOAA's official position on hurricanes and global warming is not consistent with the published, peer-reviewed science which suggests that as the planet warms hurricanes will become more dangerous.  Dr. Judith Curry, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, testified as follows: Read more...

A few weeks ago I took my pickup around Eastern Montana to talk with Montana families and businesses about my ‘Real Energy, Real Change’ plan.  At a time when energy prices are through the roof and folks have to dig deeper in their pockets to fill their tanks, heat their homes, run their farms and keep their businesses afloat, we need vision and a plan for energy independence in our country.  By taking concrete steps to invest in bio-diesel, ethanol and wind power, along with developing our state’s abundant natural resources cleanly and efficiently, Montana has the potential to play a key role in leading our country to energy security.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently reported that the U.S. Senate’s Interior Spending Bill is only a fraction of the funding needed to implement renewable-fuels standards.  My opponent, Sen. Burns, crafted that bill and calls it a success.  I call that lack of vision and poor leadership, and it’s this kind of poor leadership in Washington that has allowed our country to become more dependent on foreign oil than we were in the 1970s. It’s that lack of leadership that is allowing multinational oil and gas companies to write our energy policy.

We can achieve energy independence, with government that will facilitate and encourage development of alternative and renewable energy.

I filed an amendment today to the port security bill before the Senate to provide $6.5 billion in emergency agricultural disaster assistance to help agricultural producers struggling from the ongoing drought. Our drought-stricken communities need this immediate relief. Last month I toured the drought stricken regions of Nebraska including Lake McConaughy and the Northwest Nebraska communities that recently had to fight wildfires and now must recover from the devastation.

We need to address this issue this week and I want to attach the emergency disaster assistance amendment to the port security bill (H.R. 4954) being discussed this week. Recent maps provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska’s National Drought Mitigation Center show the entire central United States suffering from drought conditions categorized as severe, extreme or exceptional. The western two-thirds of Nebraska are currently suffering from severe to extreme drought.

These ongoing drought conditions have severely impacted agriculture in Nebraska—costing nearly $342 million this year alone, according to a recent report from the NDMC. Irrigation costs are up and grazing losses in Western Nebraska range from 50 to 70 percent. Agriculture producers in Nebraska and other states are struggling with a multi-year drought and Congress has failed to respond adequately. The problem is getting worse and Washington needs to get something done to help the farmers and ranchers struggling from this natural disaster.