The U.S. Senate acted in a bipartisan fashion to pass a sweeping energy bill, touching on everything from cybersecurity for power plants to the future of the grid.
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Murkowski said she plans to convene a formal conference to resolve differences between the Senate’s bill, passed Wednesday, and a more limited bill the House passed previous year.
And while renewable energy organizations like the Solar Energy Industries Association have applauded the bill, groups like Friends of the Earth nonetheless said they will turn their attention to a presidential veto, if the bill is passed by Congress.
The bill, said Alliance to Save Energy president Kateri Callahan, “not only saves homeowners and businesses money and creates jobs, but it also has a huge environmental return by avoiding 1.5 billion tons of carbon emissions”.
It now must be reconciled with a House-passed bill that boosts fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.
The Senate’s bill would require the Department of Energy to issue a decision on Liquefied Natural Gas export facilities within 45 days of publishing an environmental review.
The Senate on Tuesday passed several amendments to the bill, including restricting most sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when oil prices are low.
“We’re also grateful for the bill’s energy efficiency provisions”.
Sierra Club spokesman Adam Beitman told Morning Consult the bill requires environmentalists to make major sacrifices, but it doesn’t require the same of conservatives or the energy industry.
A Bennet-backed measure included in the bill would allow mortgage lenders to consider the energy efficiency of the house and expected monthly energy bills when determining the borrower’s ability to afford monthly mortgage payments.
“This legislation represents a growing, bipartisan commitment from Congressional leaders to expand domestic LNG exports so that we can boost our global competitiveness and strengthen our energy security”, said Andrew Ware, a spokesman for Our Energy Moment, a group that has lobbied for expanded LNG exports.
Last year Murkowski set up camp on the centerline, pledging to craft a bipartisan energy bill as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, with help from the committee’s ranking member, Sen. “A thriving energy sector can help provide the stability this nation needs to grow and prosper”. Lisa Murkowski’s energy modernization bill, which had been in a coma since February as senators feuded over what to do about the Flint water crisis.
The greater energy bill had been delayed for months over Republican objection to measures included to address issues with drinking water in Flint, Michigan.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) also ended his hold on the bill last week after a provision that could have expanded offshore drilling to his state was dropped from consideration, setting the package up for its last votes on amendments and approval.
Since then, the USA energy landscape has changed dramatically, as improved drilling techniques, including hydraulic fracturing, have sparked a years-long boom that has pushed the United States to become the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas.
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The efficiency measure has passed the Senate before but has not been approved in the House.
