While the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 has critical extensions of incentives for conservation and renewable energy, it is fatally flawed because it includes substantial new subsidies for dirty fuels that will dramatically increase global warming pollution and threaten millions of acres of wildlife habitat.

The clean energy tax incentives have passed both the Senate and House several times. I applaud the Senate’s efforts to move these into law. Unfortunately, by including sweeping new federal subsidies for oil shale, tar sands and liquid coal refining, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 no longer represents the kind of progress America needs toconfront global warming. Specifically, the following are critical flaws in the bill:

Oil shale development would put at risk millions of acres of wildlife habitat throughout the Rocky Mountain West important to hunters, anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts. Moreover, producing transportation fuels from oil shale and tar sands would increase global warming pollution.

Even the best emerging technology for oil shale production would result in 20-45% more global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. Other technologies to develop oil shale can generate up to five times as much carbon dioxide as conventional gasoline.

The United States cannot change course on its rising global warming pollution levels while so dramatically increasing the carbon dioxide in the nation’s transportation fuels.

A viable shale industry would also have significant direct impacts on wildlife, and inevitably collide with consumer water needs in the arid West.

Shale production requires at least three to five gallons of water to produce one gallon of fuel, and the vast majority of shale is located in arid states with limited water resources. The federal government reports that a viable shale industry would consume upwards of 300 million gallons of water daily – 130 percent of the City of Denver’s daily water use.

Oil shale development will destroy two million acres of essential wildlife habitat that supports economies throughout Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This area is home to an impressive array of wildlife including the largest mule deer herd in the country, mountain lions, black bears, bald eagles and elk. This is the heart of the American West. Oil shale development will leave this iconic area of America decimated.

The "Refinery Expensing" provision in the bill promotes the production of oil shale and tar sands fuels. This provision expands the Internal Revenue Code Section 179C tax credit to refinery property that is used to directly convert oil shale and tar sands into liquid transportation fuels.

Tar sands production is four times more carbon dioxide intensive than conventional drilling and gasoline production. Tar sands also threaten wildlife habitat as they are currently being mined from Canada’s boreal forest, and could be produced in the Western United States as well. Of the half dozen U.S. refinery expansions in the permitting stage, most are multi-billion dollar expansions to take more tar sands oil from Canada. Supporting these refinery expansions through the tax code will impose high costs on taxpayers when oil companies operating in the tar sands are making record profits.

The "Carbon Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Projects" and the "Extension and Expansion of the Alternative Fuels Credit" would promote coal to liquid transportation fuels. The production and use of coal-based transportation fuels would more than double the global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. It would also increase the devastating effects of coal mining felt by communities and wildlife stretching from Appalachia to the Rocky Mountains.

National Wildlife Federation strongly supports provisions in the bill that would extend federal tax incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies that have expired or will expire at the end of this year. These incentives must be extended immediately to avoid significant harm to the developing clean energy industries in the United States. The technologies produced by these industries play a vital role in reducing global warming pollution, creating new high-wage jobs here at home, and saving consumers and businesses money on their energy bills.

The extensions would blunt the impact of high energy bills by encouraging greater use of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and therefore decrease demand for natural gas. High natural gas prices are putting significant upward pressure on inflation and consumer energy bills.

However, the increased global warming pollution and destruction of important wildlife habitat that would result from the oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid provisions in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 outweigh the benefits of these clean energy incentives.

Larry Schweiger

The public wants Congress to take the urgent and necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut oil dependency and cut global warming pollution.

Because of the provision allowing commercial oil shale leasing, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 6899) that’s being voted on today by the House of Representatives fails to address the fundamental challenge of avoiding significant new increases in global warming pollution and protecting important wildlife habitat on our public lands.

The Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act does include several important provisions that would advance clean energy solutions and reduce global warming pollution, including the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), tax incentives for conservation and renewable energy, cuts in subsidies and giveaways for big oil, and building codes that would increase efficiency in our home and offices. Unfortunately, HR 6899 also affirmatively lifts and does not extend a longstanding moratorium on commercial oil shale leasing, putting at risk millions of acres of wildlife habitat throughout the Rocky Mountain West important to hunters, anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts. Moreover, commercial oil shale leasing could lead to dramatic increases in global warming pollution that far outweigh the good provisions in this bill.

Even the best emerging technology for oil shale production would result in 20-45% more global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. Other technologies to develop oil shale can generate up to five times as much carbon dioxide as conventional gasoline.

The United States cannot change course on its rising global warming pollution levels while so dramatically increasing the carbon dioxide in the nation’s transportation fuels.

A viable shale industry would also have significant direct impacts on wildlife, and inevitably collide with consumer water needs in the arid West. Shale production requires at least three to five gallons of water to produce one gallon of fuel, and the vast majority of shale is located in arid states with limited water resources. The federal government reports that a viable shale industry would consume upwards of 300 million gallons of water daily. Combined with the massive disturbance of land and habitat caused by shale extraction, this fuel presents a grave risk to sensitive wildlife habitat in the Rocky Mountain West.

Most of America’s oil shale is found in Green River Formation which is home to some of the most valuable wildlife habitat in the United States. The area supports an impressive array of wildlife, from mule deer and elk to mountain lions, bald eagles, sage grouse, and native trout fisheries. It also provides drinking water to local communities. Millions of Americans, including sportsmen and women, enjoy our public lands for recreational, commercial, or professional activities related to fish and wildlife that would be threatened by oil shale development.

The expected "motion to recommit" is anticipated to include expensive subsidies for coal to liquids and no restrictions on oil shale leasing, in addition to drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and other national treasures.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, expanded drilling will have an "insignificant" impact on oil prices, saving consumers a few pennies a gallon decades from now. In just the last eight years we’ve seen a 260 percent increase in drilling on our public lands while the price of gas has more than doubled. We need to minimize expanded drilling and ensure that our nation’s most cherished public lands and waters remain protected.

With only 3% of the world’s oil, the United States could drill every national park, wildlife refuge and coastline, and still be importing most of its oil. As long as we are dependent on oil, we are susceptible to global supply and demand factors and the OPEC cartel, which can easily increase or decrease production to affect prices, easily adjusting to any new U.S. oil production.

Any final energy legislation acted on by Congress must meet the test of giving consumers real energy choices, reducing global warming pollution, and protecting our treasured landscapes for future generations. With the inclusion of commercial oil shale leasing, legislation being considered by the House of Representatives today fails to meet this test.

Larry Schweiger

David Letterman recently spoke on his show about how we urgently need to confront the climate crisis.

We need leadership and we need to find alternative forms of energy now that will put America back on the path to progress and end our dangerous dependence on Middle East oil.

Recharging our economy by investing in clean energy alternatives is the most effective solution to the threat of global warming. And we need to act now to avoid the worst impacts of global warming on wildlife and to protect our children’s future.

Larry Schweiger

Since energy from the sun and wind comes to us for free and is accessible to anyone willing to invest the capital to capture it, why do we continue to feed our addiction to expensive oil and dirty coal, which are overheating our planet and cooling our economy?

Americans deserve safer energy choices. Most now know that we must end our dangerous dependence on Middle East oil, controlled by dictators who hold America in disdain. But few Americans have grasped the concept that we are running out of time to avoid a climate catastrophe.

A rapid buildup of carbon dioxide released by the burning of oil, coal and natural gas is blocking heat from escaping the atmosphere, causing a rapid overheating of the polar regions. Some of the world’s top climate scientists have recently issued warnings that we are on the verge of unleashing several dangerous feedbacks that will snowball into even greater warming at an accelerating pace. If ever there was a time to act, it’s now.

Energy choices should be judged on whether they pollute the air with carbon dioxide, mercury and other toxic chemicals. Such choices also should be based on whether the energy can be domestically produced by tapping abundant supplies, provide good local jobs, and offer consumers reasonably priced power. On all accounts, a national energy policy should be advancing renewable energy supplies and better energy efficiency over dirty fossil fuels.

Instead, America’s energy policy continues to invest heavily in oil and coal while not taking into account the huge costs of pollution. The root cause of this crisis is not a lack of available alternative energy solutions but rather the absence of political leadership. The White House and Congress have been limited-access highways where money matters most. For decades, enormous tax breaks and direct subsidies have flowed through influential lobbyists to the powerful coal and oil interests that they represent. Bold attempts to change that formula have been beaten back repeatedly. Meanwhile, the oil industry wants Congress to give it full possession of all remnant U.S. reserves—no matter how small they may be in the face of exploding world oil demand or how much damage is done to fragile ecosystems—with no promise to deliver that oil to U. S. markets anytime soon.

To hide the truth, oil and coal interests are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements designed to mislead and manipulate American voters. Dishonest messages claim that coal is clean, that alternative energy supplies will only be available to us in the distant future, that we have 45 years of oil and gas reserves left, that big oil is investing in alternative energy research and development, and that the oil oligopolies are not making excessive profits on gasoline by overcharging consumers.

In their brief moments spent in voting booths across America, voters elect people who will set the course for our shared future. The passing parade of elected officials reflects the changing moods of their constituents over time. After all, politicians of every station must reflect the majority opinions of their voting districts or they will be put out of office.

In 1971, shortly after the first Earth Day, I went to work at the Pennsylvania legislature. It was a time when voters were angry and wanted the air and water cleaned up. Lawmakers were anxious to oblige and they passed good environmental laws. When voters later forgot their responsibility for protecting the environment and their children’s future, the candidates turned their ears back to corporate lobbyists and lavished subsidies on polluters.

Near the Pennsylvania state capitol building stands a statue of Boise Penrose, a once-powerful political boss and U.S. senator who defined politics as "the art of taking money from the rich, and votes from the poor, all under the pretext of protecting one from another." Today, perhaps for the first time, Penrose’s political equation may change as contributions from the rich and powerful are somewhat diminished in the face of millions of small gifts coming through web-based fundraising. This is a hopeful sign. Each of us should donate to the candidates of our choice and make our voices count in the voting booths across America.

Thomas Jefferson predicted "one day, America will get the government that she deserves." This upcoming election gives Americans the long-overdue opportunity to demand that candidates on both sides of the aisle set a new energy course, recharging the nation’s economy while stopping climate change. You and I must urge every candidate, regardless of party affiliation, to stand up for a new energy path that is clean, renewable and affordable.