Pork Power States
News: Who won, who lost, and who got rolled in the 2007 energy bill
Provision |
favored |
opposed |
upshot |
|---|---|---|---|
Cars must reach 35 mpg by 2020. |
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), both of whom have Nissan plants in their states |
Shills for Detroit like Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) |
Passed the House 235-181. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) killed House's requirement to increase efficiency another 4% yearly after 2020. |
$450M toward alternative vehicles; up to $25B in direct loans for automakers |
Reps. from Arizona and Michigan; solar lobby |
Heritage Foundation, which said pushing "politically correct alternatives" has been a "failure" |
Passed. Industry consultant predicts carmakers will be "trying to kill each other over how green they can be." |
$500M in grants FY2008-2015 for advanced biofuel production |
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who said his state could grow grass for fuel |
Cattle and hog farmers, who fear that more biofuel means feed corn gets more expensive |
Funding passed. |
$50M in grants for solar-industry workforce training |
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), as well as other reps. from energy-guzzling states like Texas and California |
House Republicans, led by Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), want training left to private sector. |
Originally part of separate, now-dead legislation, it passed when folded into the energy bill. |
$1.2B to develop carbon sequestration |
Reps. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.); mining lobby |
Environmental groups, which argued that CO2 emissions should be cut, not buried |
With a roll of the pork barrel, funding grew from $150M per fiscal year to $240M. |
Established Office of Climate Change and Environment to study transportation system |
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who also favors his own more ambitious Global Warming Reduction Act |
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who said the office "creates a new federal bureaucracy" |
If you can't do, do a study. |
$21B in cuts to tax breaks and incentives for gas and oil companies |
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) originally introduced it; Speaker Pelosi lobbied hard for it. |
Senators from oil states and the Southeast; the White House's National Economic Council |
One vote short in the Senate; threat of veto, filibuster nixed it in the end. |
Utilities must provide a minimum of 15 percent renewable energy by 2020. |
Pelosi; Union of Concerned Scientists, nrdc, and other environmental groups |
Southern senators argued that the mandate unfairly penalized states with fewer renewables. |
Provision killed by Senate filibuster and threat of presidential veto. |
