Congress passes energy bill
As you surely know by know, the energy bill has passed the Congress. In a show of incredible contempt for the American people and their values, the final Senate vote last Friday was 74-26. The bill takes US energy policy in exactly the opposite direction the American people have demanded in poll after poll. Instead of making renewables and improved energy efficiency the centerpiece of an energy strategy that can provide clean, affordable energy and address climate change, the Congress has chosen to take billions of your dollars and give them to the nuclear power, coal and oil industries. The result is that energy will continue to become more expensive and global warming will continue to get worse.
The final Senate vote is below; the final House vote can be found at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll445.xml
We encourage you to take a moment to "thank and spank" your Congressmembers. Write to them and let them know what you think of how they voted, and be sure to tell them this will be a determining factor in how you vote next election. Address for Senate: Hon.________, US Senate, Washington, DC 20510; for House: Hon.____________, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
We don't yet know, of course, whether the billions of dollars in subsidies to the nuclear industry will result in attempts to actually build new reactors. We do know that if they try, we will do everything in our power to stop them!
We also know that the energy issue will have to be revisited again, and soon. The climate crisis is an imperative, and real steps have to be taken to address it. Nuclear power is the most expensive and slowest method possible of reducing carbon emissions; a nuclear program large enough to make any difference at all would divert virtually all funding from the alternatives that do work. We can address global warming or we can build new reactors: we can't do both.
So, we are continuing to collect signatures on our Petition for a Sustainable Energy Future at www.nirs.org and will present them to the new Congress in 2007 in a new effort to redirect energy policy. That gives us—and you—lots of time to collect more signatures! Please keep them rolling in!
And we hope to be holding a series of regional meetings over the next several months with grassroots activists to develop new strategies for the new political realities. The first one will be in Conway, New Hampshire this weekend, contact pgunter@nirs.org for information.
Thanks for all of your help and support!
Michael Mariotte
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
YEAs ---74
Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dayton (D-MN)
DeMint (R-SC)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
NAYs ---26
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dodd (D-CT)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Sununu (R-NH)
Wyden (D-OR)
-30-
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