Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

Inslee to offer New Apollo Energy Amendment to Energy Bill

Please note that the Rules Committee ultimately did not allow a vote on this amendment.

During this evening's meeting of the House Rules Committee, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee plans to offer his New Apollo Energy Amendment as a substitute to the House Republican Energy Bill (H.R. 6). Inslee's New Apollo Energy Amendment addresses the need for a comprehensive clean energy future, which is an entirely different and alternative energy policy than that proposed by the Republicans in H.R. 6. Should the Committee approve the amendment, then it would be debated and voted on by the House of Representatives during this week's consideration of the Republican energy legislation in Congress.

Inslee's New Apollo amendment will use new and innovative tax incentives and market-based assistance, along with energy performance standards, to allow America to create clean energy manufacturing jobs, decrease its dependence on foreign oil, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. New Apollo seeks to solve our energy problems through technological innovation much in the same way that President Kennedy channeled the resources of the American people to meet the challenges of the race to the Moon.

Key Features of the New Apollo Energy Amendment

• Provides $49 billion in government loan guarantees for the construction of renewable energy generation facilities. $33 billion of this funding will go to wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy projects. $9 billion of this funding will be applied for the construction of cellulosic biomass ethanol and biomethanol facilities, and $7 billion for energy efficient coal plants that sequester 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions. The legislation also provides $10.5 billion in research and development tax credits for the construction of renewable energy producing operations.
• Includes an oil savings provision, which requires the President to reduce daily domestic oil consumption by 600,000 barrels by 2010; 1,700,000 barrels by 2015; and 3,000,000 barrels by 2020. These numbers represent the amount of oil the United States imports daily from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East, respectively.
• Provides $11.5 billion in tax credits for the automotive and aerospace industries to develop new fuel efficient automobiles and planes, retool existing plants, and construct new plants to manufacture energy efficient vehicles. $10 billion of this amount will go to the automotive industry and $1.5 billion of the funding is directed to the aerospace industry.
• Contains a Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring all utilities, by 2021, to produce10 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources. There is a cost cap set at 3 cents per kilowatt hour for utilities that purchase renewable energy credits required to meet the standard. Revenue from the cost cap is used to fund grants for the construction of renewable electricity generation facilities in states lacking renewable resources.
• Provides tax credits for purchasing hybrid, alternative fuel, low-emission advanced diesel, and fuel cell vehicles.
• Establishes national grid reliability standards, and creates national net metering and interconnection standards.
• Increases regulatory oversight of energy trading markets.
• Does not increase the deficit. The amendment is revenue neutral, and pays for its provisions by rolling back some of the President's tax cuts for millionaires.

Other Major Features

Reducing Oil Dependence:

• An alternative fuel vehicle purchase requirement for government agencies.
• Tax credits for the installation of alternative refueling properties.
• Tax credits for the retail sale of alternative fuels.
• A renewable fuels standard set at 8 billion gallons by 2013.
• Modification of the tax credit for qualified electric vehicles.
• Loans for schools to buy high-efficiency vehicles.
• Ethanol-blended gasoline and bio-diesel government agency purchase requirements.

Clean Energy Economy:

• A ten year extension of the current credit for electricity generated from clean sources, and expansion of the credit to include ocean power (wave, current, and thermal).
• Federal support for the commercialization of carbon sequestration, coal gasification, and low emission coal technologies.
• Tax credits for the installation of minimum emission coal technologies.
• An order for the Secretary of Energy to create a credit for the erection of new electricity transmission lines to receive power from remote clean resources.
• Tax credits for residential use of real-time monitoring systems, also known as "net metering."
• Tax credits for energy efficient recycling and remanufacturing units.
• Requirement that Secretary of Interior standardize right-of-way requirements for wind projects.
• Requirement that government agencies reduce energy consumption.
• Permanent extension of the Energy Savings Performance Contracts.
• Tradable renewable resource credits for public utilities.
• Establishment of a new energy commission to certify new technologies that qualify for credits under New Apollo.
• Tax credits for distributed energy generation and demand management property in residences and businesses.
• Tax credits for fly-wheel properties.

Jobs

The New Apollo Energy Amendment would generate millions of high-paying jobs, including many in Washington State. An outside group has released a report showing that an investment in renewable energies, rather than climate-changing fossil fuels would create 3.3 million American jobs, while paying for itself.

• Federal support for the commercialization of clean technologies.
• Improved coordination of technology transfer activities.
• Establishment of a clean energy technology export program.
• A government funded risk pool for the qualifying clean energy technologies.
• A federal clean energy use requirement.
• Renewable energy lending requirements for the Export-Import Bank.
• Grants to improve mass transit programs.
• Grants for sewer and water energy improvements.
• $36 billion in new federal research authorizations for advanced clean technologies, fusion power, and technologies focusing on existing energy sources.
• Tax credits for the construction of energy efficient homes and commercial properties.

Consumer Protections:

• Increases funding for LIHEAP and weatherization projects.
• Implements energy efficiency standards for certain appliances, and provides tax credits for the production of energy efficient appliances.
• Establishes a national energy efficient home mortgage association.
• Requires the President to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• Requires the Secretary of Energy to issue Energy Star regulations for solar water heating devices.

Revenue Neutrality:

New Apollo is a revenue neutral amendment. Costs are expected to be around $46 billion, which are offset by $46 billion generated from a roll back of half of the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Short term tax incentives are capped at $14 billion and long term tax incentives are capped at $22 billion over ten years.