Congressmen join stampede against Stevens' Amendment

Group sends strongly worded "Dear Colleague" to other members of Congress

Today this “Dear Colleague” letter was circulated through the House of Representatives lead by Congressman Charles Bass of New Hampshire, Mark Udall and others listed below. It came after previous letters today from both the Bush Administration and the chairmen of the committees in both the Senate and House which authored the original Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill.

This arbitrary political barrier to development and the ongoing regulatory approval process would undermine the confidence of the financial community and deter investment in renewable energy projects across the nation for the foreseeable future.

May 5, 2006

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us in writing to the House Leadership in opposition to an anti-renewable energy legislative earmark that was a last minute addition to the Conference Report on H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act.

As you may know, Section 414 was added to the Conference Report without having been considered by either the House or Senate, and it would effectively derail America's first offshore wind energy project.  This earmark is applicable only to the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound and directly conflicts with the provisions of last year's Energy Policy Act that instituted a comprehensive and balanced regulatory process at the Department of the Interior for the licensing of offshore renewable energy projects.  Closed-door earmarks like these, inserted without a full debate and lacking an up or down vote, inappropriately circumvent the legislative process.

The Department of the Interior process will carefully balance the interests of federal and state authorities and specifically requires consultation with the Coast Guard, the Governor, and affected local governments. Specifically, enactment of Section 414 would be a major setback to the nation's development of renewable energy and runs directly counter to the bipartisan efforts of Congress to reduce the use of foreign energy sources and to increase our domestic energy security.  This arbitrary political barrier to development and the ongoing regulatory approval process would undermine the confidence of the financial community and deter investment in renewable energy projects across the nation for the foreseeable future.  Although Section 414 ostensibly relates to navigation, the U.S. Coast Guard has already determined that there would be no adverse effect on navigation.  In addition, the U.S. Air Force facility on Cape Cod has determined there would be no effect on navigation or military radar.

Please join us in sending the attached (below) letter to the House Leadership to urge them to work to eliminate Section 414 before the Conference Report is brought to the floor of the House for a vote and send a clear message that Congress will not allow special interests to derail the regulatory process and our ambitions for clean, domestic energy.

For more information or to sign on to the letter by COB Monday, May 8, please contact Tad Furtado (Bass) or Brian Daniels (Langevin).

Sincerely,
Charles Bass
Member of Congress

Jim Langevin
Member of Congress

Joe Barton
Member of Congress

Jay Inslee
Member of Congress

Jeff Flake
Member of Congress

Mark Udall
Member of Congress