For Immediate Release: Contact: Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen (202)
454-5191
July 16, 2001 David Hughes, Citizen Power (412)
421-6072
Bush-Cheney Energy Plan Fails to Protect
Pennsylvania Consumers
National and State Groups Fault Special
Interest Policies
PITTSBURGH
-- Contrary to what Vice President Dick Cheney and Pennsylvania Republican
politicians will tell people at an invitation-only “town hall” meeting in
Pittsburgh today, the administration’s energy plan will harm the environment
and consumers, two consumer advocacy organizations said today.
By
manufacturing an energy “crisis”, Bush/Cheney hope to push through an energy
agenda that benefits energy producers at the expense of consumers, according to
Pittsburgh-based Citizen Power and Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen. The
administration’s energy plan — which has no price or blackout protections for
electricity consumers, suspends public health laws so power plants can increase
emissions, subsidizes nuclear power and dirty coal, gives money for more oil
drilling on public land, and reduces federal spending for renewable energy
sources and energy efficiency — relies on old ideas and failed policies of the
past.
“Dick
Cheney and Gov. Tom Ridge are abandoning consumers by promoting Bush’s energy
plan,” said David Hughes, executive director of Citizen Power. “Bush’s idea to
suspend public health laws and replace local controls by expanding the federal
government’s authority to build new coal and nuclear power plants will do
nothing to secure America’s energy future. Real solutions require energy
producers to sell electricity and other commodities to consumers at affordable
rates, and investing in proven renewable energy and energy efficiency
programs.”
Some
elements of Bush’s energy plan already have proven to be faulty. In a May 29
speech to business executives, President Bush said, “We will not take any
action that makes California's problems worse. And that's why I oppose price
caps.” But prices have plummeted and no rolling blackouts have occurred in
California since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) enacted price
controls.
“President
Bush was wrong to oppose price controls in California’s electricity market,”
said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and
Environment Program. “Consumers have benefited from lower prices from the
increased government protection. The only negative impact of FERC’s price
controls is that the three major California
power producers, which contributed
$1.5 million to the Bush‑Cheney campaign and inauguration and the
Republican National Committee in the last election cycle, can no longer pad
their profits by price-gouging utilities and consumers.”
Dismissing
price controls, Bush and Ridge insist that markets alone will solve states’
deregulation problems and point to Pennsylvania’s alleged deregulation success.
But between April 1 and July 1, the number of Pennsylvania consumers using an
alterative supplier dropped 25%. It was the sharpest quarterly drop since
Pennsylvania deregulated its market in 1999 and indicates that rising prices on
the uncompetitive wholesale market are resulting in little to no competition in
the retail market.
Citizen Power and Public Citizen Press Release, July 16, 2001 Page Two
“There is
not much to boast about in Pennsylvania’s electricity deregulation,” Hughes
said. “Customers have fewer choices, and the only rate reductions were
instituted through regulation. The market has done little to produce
electricity more affordably for Pennsylvanians.”
Citizen
Power and Public Citizen also fault the Bush administration for its lack of
commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Bush claims that, in
order to satisfy demand, we need to build 1,300 power plants over the
next 20 years. But this claim is disputed by the president’s own Department of
Energy, which states that implementing existing energy efficiency technologies
would require the construction of 690 power plants over the next 20 years.
Unfortunately, Bush has proposed to slash federal spending on energy efficiency
measures and has proposed scaling back Clinton-era efficiency standards for
certain appliances.
In his May 17 speech, President
Bush observed that the U.S. economy is 42% more efficient than it was in 1970.
This means that energy-efficiency has added more capacity to U.S. energy
resource than all supply resources combined over the period. “The efficient
use of energy is the cheapest, fastest and cleanest way to meet demand and
therefore should be the first source looked to for meeting future energy
needs,” continued David Hughes.
“President
Bush needs to put his money where his mouth is,” Hughes said. “While
administration officials use events like today’s in Pittsburgh to talk about
energy efficiency, they are slashing federal budgets for these same programs.
We should be increasing investments in energy efficient technologies, not
sinking billions more in taxpayer subsidies for dirty coal and dangerous
nuclear power.”
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For more information, please visit www.citizen.org
and
www.citizenpowerinc.org