US+Domestic+Energy

12/13/08 Current Crises: >> Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles. >> Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard. >> Weatherize One Million Homes Annually. >> Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology. >> Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.
 * US Domestic Energy **
 * price rises of mid-2008
 * July 26, 2008—the House passed the Energy Markets Emergency Act of 2008 (H.R. 6377), directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to use its authority to deal with issues causing major market disturbances.
 * excessive speculation
 * price distortion
 * sudden or unreasonable fluctuations
 * unwarranted changes in prices
 * unlawful activity that is allegedly causing major market disturbances that prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand
 * Obama
 * Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families.
 * Crack Down on Excessive Energy Speculation
 * Swap Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Cut Prices.
 * Eliminate Our Need for Middle Eastern and Venezuelan Oil within 10 Years
 * Get 1 Million Plug-In Hybrid Cars on the Road by 2015.
 * Create Millions of New Green Jobs
 * Ensure 10 percent of Our Electricity Comes from Renewable Sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
 * Reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050
 * Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
 * Bush
 * offshore exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)
 * Congress should clear the way for our Nation to tap into the extraordinary potential of oil shale.
 * Congress should permit exploration in currently restricted areas of northern Alaska – which could produce roughly the equivalent of two decades of imported oil from Saudi Arabia.
 * Congress should enable the expansion and enhancement of our domestic refining capacity
 * ** In December 2007, Congress responded to the President's "Twenty in Ten" challenge by passing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which mandates that fuel producers use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022 **
 * EISA also requires a national fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 – which will increase fuel economy standards by 40 percent and save billions of gallons of fuel.
 * ** April—Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced a new proposed rule under EISA authority **on a fleet-wide basis will increase by an average of 4.5 percent annually through 2015 – a 25 percent improvement over the current standard. This standard exceeds the 3.3 percent average annual increase needed to reach the target passed by Congress last year.
 * The Administration is working to expand the use of clean, safe nuclear power, solar and wind power, and clean coal technology