This Week in Washington
For the Week Ending July 19, 2001
This weekly report is written by the American Society of Civil Engineers' Government Relations staff. If you have questions or comments about any items in this report, please contact Brian Pallasch, Michael Charles, Martin Hight, Austin Fulk, or Liz Hermsen by e-mail or at 202/789-2200.
Inside This Week:
- House Committee Rejects Changes to Diesel Rule, Cafe Improvements
- House Ways And Means Committee Votes New Energy Tax Credits
- House Completes Work on Commerce Department Appropriation
- State Government Relations Update
- ASCE Congressional Fellow Report - July 2001
The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee voted on July 18 to delete a provision from energy legislation that could have jeopardized strict new regulations for diesel fuel. The committee also defeated amendments backed by environmentalists that would have increased gasoline mileage standards on automakers.
The votes came a day after the U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee approved a bill to expand oil and gas production on U.S. land, giving its approval to a controversial plan to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The Energy and Commerce Committee decision on fuel economy standards preserved an agreement reached last week by Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and ranking member John Dingell, (D-MI)., that would require the auto industry to save five billion gallons of gasoline by the end of this decade. Critics of the compromise charged that the plan would increase fuel economy standards by a mere one mile per gallon over the period.
Democrats proposed amendments designed to increase fuel efficiency standards to 37.5 and 40 mpg by 2011 and 2017, respectively. They were defeated by large margins.
On diesel, the committee voted to remove a provision that sought to eliminate the phase-in period for new, low-sulfur diesel fuel, which would have required the entire diesel fuel supply to meet the new 15 parts per million sulfur level by 2006. Under the current regulation, 80 percent of the fuel must meet the standard in 2006, reaching 100 percent by 2010.
2. House Ways And Means Committee Votes New Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee approved a bill on July 18 that would provide $34 billion in a variety of tax credits designed to boost domestic energy production from nuclear power, natural gas, petroleum, coal and certain renewable energy sources, including solar power.
The proposed legislation includes an extension of the wind and closed-loop biomass tax credits until 2007 and approval of open-loop biomass and landfill gas facilities to qualify for the credit as well; a $2,000 tax credit for solar energy use; a $2,000 tax credit for energy efficient home improvements; a maximum $1,000 tax credit per kilowatt hour for fuel cell power plants; up to a $40,000 tax credit for fuel cell motor vehicle purchases, depending on the weight of the car; a $50 per-appliance credit to manufacturers producing energy-efficient clothes washers and refrigerators; a 10 percent tax credit for investments in advanced clean coal technology facilities; a $3 per barrel tax credit for crude oil production and a 50 cent credit per 1,000 cubic feet of qualified natural gas; and repeal of the cost of service requirement for the nuclear decommissioning fund.
3. House Completes Work on Commerce Department Appropriation
The U.S. House of Representatives, on July 18, completed work on the Fiscal Year 2002 Appropriations for the Department of Commerce. The House has allocated $5.2 billion for Commerce, virtually the same as both the Bush Administration’s request and the Fiscal Year 2001 final appropriation.
Among specific agencies and programs, the bill provides:
- $3.1 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an increase over last year’s $2.7 billion final appropriation.
- $366 million for the Economic Development Administration (EDA), $73 million less than the current fiscal year. EDA provide economic development infrastructure grants to local communities to spur economic development.
- $488.9 million for the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), including only $13 million to fund existing grants from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), which the administration is seeking to phase out.
4. State Government Relations Update
ASCE provides updates on individual state government matters affecting civil engineers. For more information on the following item(s), or any other state government relations matters, please contact Austin Fulk, ASCE’s Manager of State Government Relations, at (202) 789-2200 or via email at afulk@asce.org.
State Legislative Update The following bills were recently introduced in state legislatures across the country. If you have questions about particular legislation, please contact Austin Fulk. These bills affect the civil engineering profession, but ASCE National has not taken a position on them unless otherwise noted.
New York A.B. 9265 would encourage remediation of existing brownfield sites.
Oregon S.B. 764 was signed into law by Gov. John Kitzhaber. The bill extends Oregon’s pollution tax credit program, but narrows the scope of projects that are eligible for the program and reduces the amount of the credit available.
5. ASCE Congressional Fellow Report - July 2001
This month started off with a bang. If you can suffer unruly crowds, I recommend the fourth of July fireworks in the nation's Capitol. If you're a patriotic homebody, consider ordering an American flag www.senate.gov/~kennedy/flags.html flown over the Capitol building especially for you by Senator Kennedy.
The legislation that I've been working on since last year has yet to be introduced and will require even further refinement. The bill involves smart growth and includes the cleaning and redevelopment of brownfields (abandoned contaminated sites) in communities. At the same time, I am working on the Interior, Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development and Energy appropriation bills, fuel efficient energy policies, re-establishing Congress's Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), improving K-12 earth science education and so on. I spoke to the Association of Engineering Geologist's executive committee members on the importance of understanding the policy environment in order to promote the field of engineering geology.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) had a rowdy end-of-the-year fellows' retreat, which was a blast. Many talented (and not so talented) fellows shared (and "over shared") their skills at our talent show. I'm sure that many long lasting fruitful friendships were made this year. Also, I attended AAAS's briefing on medicine on the internet and problems with counting votes in the 2000 election. The Caltech-MIT voting technology project, which evaluated the reliability and uniformity of the voting, found that 4 to 6 million of the 100 million votes were not counted.
As I am nearing the end of my tenure, the AAAS fellows and I mull over "what's next?" Aside from returning to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, I will delve further into promoting sound science and engineering policies. I hope to help shape policies at organizations such as ASCE and the National Academies. I will apply my work on smart growth and sustainable living practices in Pacific Northwest communities.
Respectfully submitted,
Yumei Wang, P.E. 2000-2001 Fellow for Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
