Learn More About the Energy Bill

The Senate approved the energy bill  [2.47 MB] on July 29, 2005 and President Bush signed the bill on Aug. 8.  Most of positive measures that were in the earlier Senate bill, such as a renewable portfolio standard, were ultimately taken out of the conference report that was passed.

The energy bill is bad policy because it (1) fails to decrease our dependence on foreign oil for its lack of mandatory improvements in automobile fuel efficiency ("CAFE" standards); (2) provides billions of dollars in unjustified subsidies to the fossil fuel and nuclear energy industries; and (3) repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), an essential consumer protection that ensures that electric utilities exist to serve the people, not the profit interests of large corporations.

To hear Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum debate Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) about the energy bill on E&E TV,  click here.

Understanding this complex legislation is no easy task. To better comprehend this bill and its potential impacts, Public Citizen has created helpful fact sheets, analyses, and reports on key issues in the energy bill. To find out more about the legislation, please click on the hyperlinked items below.

General Guides

• Public Citizen's Summary of Energy Industry Giveaways in the Energy Bill
  
  
• Incentives Title in the Senate Energy Bill: May the Best Lobbyist Win
  
  
• Tax Breaks Benefiting Energy Companies in the Corporate Tax Bill, passed October 2004

109th Energy Conference Committee

• Campaign Contributions to Members of the House-Senate Energy Bill Conference Committee since 2001

Nuclear

• Nuclear Provisions in the Final Energy Bill
  
  
• Price-Anderson Act: The Billion Dollar Bailout for Nuclear Power Mishaps 

• The Advanced Hydrogen Reactor Co-generation Project: A Clean Energy Travesty
  
  
• Energy Bill Offers Licensing Favors for Multinational Energy Consortium’s Proposed Uranium Enrichment Plant 

Electricity Deregulation

• Analysis of Harmful Provisions in the Electricity Title of the Energy Bill Conference Report
  
  
• Analysis of Harmful Provisions in the Electricity Title of the Senate Energy Bill
  
  
• Access to Books and Records of Utility Owners if Puhca is Repealed: 9 Reasons Why It's a Joke
  
  
• PUHCA for Dummies: An Electricity Blackout and Energy Bill Primer and PUHCA Repeal for Dummies: The Sequel
  
  
• PUHCA Repeal: Congress Prepares to Abandon Consumer & Investor Protections
  
  
• Analysis of Impact of Deregulation on Electricity Reliability and Price for Consumers
  
  
• Bush Puts FirstEnergy First, Consumers Last 

Oil & Gas

• Report: Big Oil Keeps Gas Prices High; Energy Bill Won't Help
  
  
• Myths and Facts about Oil Refineries in the United States
  
  
• GOP Protects Fuel Additive Manufacturers Despite Drinking Water Contamination
  
  
• Drilling for Tax Credits: Runaway Coalbed Methane Development Doesn't Need a Tax Break