| |
| |
|
 | Political News |
 |
|
|
Energy Report Highlights
Friday, May 18, 2001; Page A09 Production: • Ease restrictions on oil and gas development on public lands.• Open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling. • Ease permit process for refinery expansion and construction. • Speed license procedures for hydroelectric dams and geothermal plants. • Order agencies to expedite permits for energy-related projects. Nuclear • Pursue a national nuclear waste repository, despite controversy surrounding the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Yucca Mountain is not singled out in the report.• Adjust regulations to speed relicensing of reactors and licensing of new plants. • Give tax breaks to buy nuclear plants. • Reconsider reprocessing of nuclear fuel, ended in 1970s because of fear of nuclear proliferation. Renewable energy: • Provide tax credits to encourage development of energy plants that use organic waste, or biomass.• Continue tax credits for wind energy generation. • Give tax credit of 15 percent for homeowners who purchase solar panels. • Study whether to require automobiles to meet higher fuel efficiency standards. • Propose $5 billion in new spending, most of which goes to tax credits for renewable energy and conservation projects. • Enact legislation to expand alternative fuels tax incentives to include landfills that capture methane gas emissions for electricity generation. Conservation: • Give tax credit for purchase of high-mileage, hybrid or fuel cell vehicles.• Provide tax benefits and regulatory relief for co-generation plants that produce heat and electricity. Power plants: • Streamline approval process for siting power plants.• Give government authority to take property through eminent domain for power lines. • Provide tax breaks for developing clean coal technologies. • Ease regulatory barriers, including clean air rules, to make plants more efficient. Other: • Spur U.S. participation in Caspian Sea oil and gas development.• Step up diplomatic efforts to expand oil production in Latin America, Asia and Caspian Sea nations such as Azerbaijan. • Review whether to increase flexibility in the web of regional "boutique" gasoline blends that industry says contributes to supply shortages and price spikes, while maintaining clean-air standards. • Order federal agencies to consider the impact on energy supplies when writing regulations. SOURCES: Associated Press, White House |
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
