***** Reformatted. Please distribute. CLINTON/GORE ON NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY For twelve years, the Republicans in Washington have undermined our national security and cut short our economic growth because they haven't had a national energy policy. In the last decade, 8,000 of our independent oil and gas producers have closed their doors; 300,000 Americans have lost their jobs. Of 4,500 domestic drilling rigs operating in the United States in 1981 when Ronald Reagan and George Bush took office, less than 700 remain in operation today. We've fallen behind our competitors in energy efficiency and are in danger of leaving future generations of Americans in a precarious position of overwhelming debt and dependence. America needs a new national energy policy that enables Americans to control Americas energy future. Instead of coddling special interests whose fortunes depend on Americas addiction to foreign oil, the Clinton/Gore national energy policy promotes national security, energy diversity, economic prosperity, and environmental protection. It's time to make the right energy choices. Increase energy efficiency and conservation * Increase corporate average fuel economy standards from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 40-45 miles per gallon. * Develop and implement revenue-neutral market incentives that reward conservation and penalize polluters and energy-wasters. * Adopt transportation strategies and highway spending programs that encourage car-pooling, high-efficiency highway technology, and mass transit by including conservation incentives in the federal matching fund program. * Promote changes in utility regulation to make energy efficiency profitable for both utilities and customers. * Strengthen federal programs to encourage energy-efficient housing, and to encourage state and local governments to adopt building codes that encourage conservation by calling for thicker walls and windows, new compact florescent bulbs, more efficient insulation and new low-cost housing construction that could cut domestic energy consumption by 25 percent using measures that would pay for themselves in 5 to 7 years. * Increase energy efficiency in every federal agency and set standards to insure that federal grants, contracts, and projects support Americas national conservation goals. Increase natural gas use * Implement policies to expand markets for natural gas in every sector homes, businesses, industry, electrical generation, and transportation. * Speed development and certification of new natural gas pipelines to get natural gas to market, with special emphasis on areas not currently adequately served by natural gas. * Convert the enormous federal vehicle fleet to natural gas. * Use federal research and development dollars to develop new natural gas applications. Expand the use of renewable energy sources * Create a civilian advanced research agency that will support civilian research and development of renewable technologies and renewable fuel programs. * Reorient the mission of hundreds of national laboratories, moving from defense R&D to more work on commercial renewable energy projects. * Change the tax code to create greater incentives for renewable energy use. * Give incentives to utilities to adopt least cost planning, which factors environmental, social and economic costs into fuel-use decisions. Least-cost planning is currently employed by utility companies in 17 states. A safe, environmentally sound energy policy * Oppose increased reliance on nuclear power. There is good reason to believe that we can meet future energy needs -- with conservation and the use of alternative fuels -- without having to face the staggering costs, delays and uncertainties of nuclear waste disposal. * Oppose federal excise gas tax increases. Instead of a back-breaking federal gas tax, we should try conservation, increased use of natural gas, and increased use of alternative fuels. * Prohibit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska: work to expand the ANWR to include the 1.5 acre Arctic Coastal Plain while ensuring that Native Americans are able to use these lands for traditional subsistence hunting and fishing. Increased energy efficiency and the use of natural gas currently available in the lower 48 states can easily negate the need for ANWR drilling. * In Governor Clinton's first term in 1979, he created a state Department of Energy which emphasized renewable resource development, reduced institutional barriers to energy conservation and encouraged the development of new energy sources. * Established an Alternative Fuels Commission. * Arkansas ranks 10th in the nation in energy research spending. * Gore amendments enacted by the Senate as part of the 1992 energy bill: ! Help small businesses increase their energy efficiency and cut their energy bills by establishing energy diagnostic centers where engineering students and their professors can work with small businesses. ! Accelerate the government's efforts to procure the most energy efficient products and to provide grant money to states to fund energy efficiency and conservation initiatives. ! Require the Tennessee Valley Authority of conduct least-cost planning analyses of energy supply and demand requirements. ! Provides assistance to states to develop energy conservation and renewable energy initiatives. * Senator Gore was a leader in the successful efforts to kill provisions that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. * Led efforts in the 1991 Interior Appropriations for solar and renewable joint venture programs. * Senator Gore introduced legislation to involve America's national labs in developing and disseminating energy efficient technologies and practices.