WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, released the following statement in response to today's introduction of The American Power Act, a comprehensive energy and climate proposal sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT).
Udall is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which last year approved a separate version of clean energy legislation, called the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
"Today is an important milestone for comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation in the Senate. Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham have worked tirelessly to balance a variety of regional, economic, and environmental interests, and I am reviewing their bipartisan work. This draft bill, combined with the work of Senator Bingaman's Energy Committee and our work on the Senate Environment Committee, shows the growing momentum for a ‘do it all, do it right' clean energy policy that will create jobs, make us more energy independent, and reduce pollution.
"After an initial review, the bill creates an important market signal for clean energy investments and focuses on protecting consumers from energy price spikes. The bill also includes several policies I recommended to level the playing field for natural gas in the electricity market and reduce oil dependence by converting truck fleets to natural gas. The Discussion Draft should do more to promote renewable energy and protect forests and watersheds from the impacts of global warming, and many other provisions require further scrutiny. The most important thing, however, is for the Senate to work on comprehensive clean energy policy this year free of partisan obstruction and delaying tactics."
