FCNL (the Quakers) asks your support to defeat the Energy Bill

[Kolesar]

This is pretty well written and concise. You can cut and paste and mail it to your friends. It has the capitol switchboard number & a web site for doing emails, too!

Dear Friend,

We need your help now in opposing a harmful, regressive energy bill (HR 6) that will be voted on in the next few days. Today, Monday, November 17, a House-Senate conference committee is expected to pass the bill. It will then go to both chamber floors for a vote sometime this week. Please call, fax, or email your senators now and urge them to support a filibuster of the energy bill (HR 6).

The energy bill is slanted heavily towards existing energy industries and does little to promote clean or renewable energy solutions. The final legislation would expand domestic oil and gas production; open more public lands to oil and gas drilling and pipelines; relax clean air mandates; and increase excessive subsidies to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear industries. The bill fails to reduce U.S. dependence on oil, promote conservation, or address looming environmental concerns, such as global warming.

Earlier this year, the House and Senate passed two very different energy bills. The energy conference committee is in charge of reconciling these differences. However, the two conference chairmen, Senator Domenici (NM) and Representative Tauzin (LA), have written most of the conference language behind closed doors, rewriting portions of the bill and giving other conferees little opportunity to participate in negotiations. Senate conferees for alternative sources of energy have won small tax provisions that would encourage conservation and the use of renewable energy sources. However, the voices of conferees in favor of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy have been largely unheard. In general, they have been kept from participating in the drafting of the final bill.

Now, after weeks of delay and closed door negotiations, the bill is being pushed through Congress without full debate and consideration. Not all of the House-Senate energy conferees have been allowed to fully participate in drafting the final bill. Many members will not even have sufficient time to review the legislation, which was altered significantly in conference, before the final floor vote.

Some senators are considering a filibuster in order to prevent a vote on this harmful legislation which was not properly debated and negotiated. FCNL supports legislative processes which help ensure full, reasoned debate on issues before Congress, and which provide space for minority views to be represented.

Please call, fax, or email your senators now and urge them to support a filibuster of the energy bill (HR 6). Ask them to join their colleagues in preventing this legislation from being rushed through Congress and, if it is put to a vote, to vote "NO." This bill would take U.S. energy policy backward. The U.S. deserves an energy policy that promotes safe, clean, affordable energy. A responsible energy bill would secure U.S. energy and enhance national security by reducing reliance on polluting fossil fuels and nuclear energy. It would also promote conservation; clean, renewable energy sources; and energy-efficient technologies.

To call your senators, use the Capitol Switchboard. The number is 202-224-3121.

To write your senators, start with the sample letter posted in our Legislative Action Center. You can personalize the language, then email or fax your message directly from our web site. You can also print it out and mail it. To view the sample letter, click on the link below, then enter your zip code and click <Go> in the <Take Action Now> box. Here is the link: http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=4158501&type=CO.

Given the urgency of the issue, we ask that you forward this action alert to ten or more of your friends. Thanks for your help!

Kathy Guthrie
Field Program Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
www.fcnl.org

To view FCNL's Legislative Action Message on the Energy Bill from October 22, 2003, click here: http://www.fcnl.org/act_lam_current/lam1022_03.htm.

To read more about U.S. dependency and FCNL's work on energy and the environment, click here: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=24.

Click here to view the November 15, 2003 Chairmen's Mark to the Energy Policy Act of 2003: www.senate.gov/~energy.