In April 2005, UCS joined eight other environmental and public interest groups in calling on the Senate to oppose the Natural Gas Price Reduction Act of 2003 (S. 726).

Earthjustice * Friends of the Earth * Natural Resources Defense Council * Public Citizen * Sierra Club * The Wilderness Society * Union of Concerned Scientists * US PIRG * Western Organization of Resource Councils

April 22, 2005

In Re:  S. 726

Dear Senator:

We write to express our opposition to a bill introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander, entitled the “Natural Gas Price Reduction Act of 2003” (S. 726).  Although Title I of the bill contains a number of attractive provisions regarding energy conservation and efficiency, certain provisions in it would eliminate important air quality protections that currently apply to all new coal-fueled power plants. While the bill also has some attractive provisions to assist small renewable energy generators, it would do nothing to capture the large reductions in natural gas demand and gas prices from bulk renewable energy generation that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and other analyses find would be cost-effective.

Moreover, Title II of the bill would have the unfortunate effect of establishing oil and gas development as the dominant use of western national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands. It would do so by exempting the oil and gas industry from key environmental statutes, including provisions of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and by forcing the federal permitting agencies to “rush to judgment” in issuing drilling permits. Title II also contains provisions that harm coastal areas. One such provision would immediately reverse the 24-year bipartisan congressional Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) moratorium, supported in the White House budget this year, that currently protects the east and west coasts and southwest Florida from the impacts of offshore oil and gas drilling. This provision would also void the OCS executive leasing deferrals first enacted by former President George H.W. Bush on the advice of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition, Title III contains provisions that would reduce the ability of states to have adequate input on the siting and permitting of controversial liquid natural gas facilities. Section 301 gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “exclusive authority” over “the siting, construction, expansion, or operation” of these facilities. The section also limits the regulatory review period to one year. Even if one supports increasing the number of liquid natural gas terminals in North America, there is no justification for limiting the ability of states and local communities to have control over the permitting and siting of these facilities.

We strongly support the adoption of federal policies that will increase the efficient use of our natural gas resources, thereby lowering high natural gas prices. However, adoption of such vital policies should not come at the price of more pollution and more environmental degradation of the lands and waters currently undergoing intense exploitation for their natural gas resources.

We are still in the process of analyzing S. 726 and will soon be sending additional information to you about the bill.  

Sincerely,

Randy Moorman
Legislative Associate
Earthjustice

Sara Zdeb
Legislative Director
Friends of the Earth

Karen Wayland
Legislative Director
Natural Resources Defense Council

Wenonah Hauter
Director, Energy Program
Public Citizen

David Hamilton
Director, Global Warming and Energy Programs
Sierra Club

David Alberswerth
BLM Program Director
The Wilderness Society

Marchant Wentworth
Legislative Representative
Union of Concerned Scientists

Emily Kaplan
Public Lands Advocate
U.S. PIRG

Sara Kendall
Washington, DC Representative
Western Organization of Resource Councils