The bill also provides a long-term solution for spent nuclear fuel. The legislation allows the NRC to finish its review of the Yucca Mountain repository without political interference, and repeals its 70,000 metric ton limitation, letting science and technology dictate how much the repository can safely hold.
"Science and technology" have nothing to do with Yucca Mountain. In 1981 when it was originally proposed that we create a national waste repository, it was established by Congress that the location would be selected by the scientists involved, and not by Congress. 8 years later they went back on that decision, overriding the scientists to dictate a location at Yucca Mountain. If you really want to get political interference out of the issue, then let the NRC decide whether they want to keep Yucca at all.
Alternative Fuels: The bill spurs the development of America's alternative fuels by repealing the "Section 526" prohibition on government purchasing fuels derived from sources such as oil shale, tar sands and coal-to liquid technology.
Do you know what those three things have in common? They're all incredibly high pollution, and they all produce more greenhouse gases than traditional oil. They're also all controlled by the same megaconglomerates that set oil pricing on a whim. And there's way more to say about oil shale, as seen farther below.
Tax Provisions for New and Expanding Technology: The bill encourages new and expanding energy technologies by making permanent tax credits for the production of renewable electricity, like wind, solar, and biomass. The bill also makes permanent investment tax credits for solar energy and for fuel cell properties and extends the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits.
Okay... by how much? Oh, you mean the current "tax credits," like the ones that let you deduct between 5 and 15% of the cost of a system like those used by some homeowners from your taxes? Silly me, I thought that if you were serious about helping encourage alternative energy, you'd be talking about something more substantial, like the 30% tax credits that Obama already provided under the stimulus bill, or even something radical like being able to deduct the entire cost of a grid-tied wind or solar system.
Outer Continental Shelf: The Interior Department estimates that the OCS holds up to 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Which at current US consumption rates translates to buying 11 years worth of time, just enough to look like it's doing something while enriching the oil companies (further), and delaying any substantive action to eliminate our need for oil.
This idea was the basis for the Republicans whole (failed) "energy" campaign last year: that if we give the big oil companies more carte blanche to drill anywhere, despoil anything, and sell the resulting tiny increase in total oil production on the global market, it'll somehow substantially slash prices here in the US.
Except a cursory examination shows that supply and demand has almost nothing to do with oil prices; world oil supplies are still high right now, and were hitting record surpluses around the time gas was hitting $4 a gallon. What defines the price is simple: it's what the oil companies choose to sell it for.
Arctic Coastal Plain: The bill increases American energy by opening the Arctic Coastal Plain to exploration in an environmentally-sound manner, which could provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day.
Which is 5% of our total usage, becoming available on the market in about five to ten years, and has been calculated to drop the price of gas by about 5 cents a gallon.
The bill requires timely lease sales, provides for revenue sharing with the State, designates a fund to mitigate the effects of exploration and development and provide for local community support
The word you're looking for is "bribes."
Oil Shale: It is estimated that more than 70 percent of American oil shale lies on federal lands which contain an estimated 1.23 trillion barrels of oil, more than 50 times the nation's proven conventional oil reserves.
All of which would require strip-mining to retrieve--assuming that we're not relying on the still unusably experimental alternative forms of extraction.
Add to that a list of side-effects from oil shale mining that include acid drainage; sulfer outgassing; contamination of surface water and groundwater with metals, including heavy metals; and air pollution. The nation of Estonia in eastern Europe uses oil shale as their main source of energy--it produces 97% of all their air pollution, 23% of all their water pollution, and 86% of all total waste in the country. So if you want your kids to be able to take a deep breath when they're 30, and take your grandkids to Yellowstone without it being a mined-out crater, then I'd suggest you stay away from the oil shale.
And just for good measure, it produces even more greenhouse gases when burned than conventional oil.
Legal Reform: The bill curtails dilatory lawsuits that are designed to obstruct American energy exploration. While ensuring people a day in court, it expedites judicial review by imposing a 60-day deadline on legal challenges and requires cases to be filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, to prevent forum shopping.
In other words, if you want to prevent somebody from strip mining near your home, poisoning your water, spilling oil all over the lands where your children play, etcetera, you had better be prepared to drop everything on a moment's notice and travel across the country, pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a lawyer, and make sure that you do it all within 60 days of the arbitrary deadline imposed.
Refineries: The newest significant refinery began operating in 1977. The bill increases American supplies of gasoline and diesel by encouraging greater refinery capacity by streamlining and accelerating the refinery permitting process.
Refinery capacity has NEVER been an issue. In fact, we have refineries operating at part capacity, and tankers of oil sitting off the coast because the storage facilities are full. The largest part of gas prices is people dabbling in the oil commodities market, spiking the price based on paper ownership, and the middlemen who profit off of it.
Tell me, when was the last time that you went to a gas station and they didn't have fuel to sell you? If supply capacity were really an issue, there would be actual shortages of the available fuel, such as in 1973.
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