Policy

The Alliance to Save Energy President David M. Nemtzow today commended the Clinton Administration for its FY 2001 budget request offering a combination of increases for energy-efficiency programs, tax credits for efficient homes and cars, and a $200 million Clean Energy Initiative. Nemtzow called on Congress to move quickly to adopt these measures.

The Alliance to Save Energy praised Clinton Administration negotiators for emerging from often contentious negotiations yesterday over the Interior Appropriations bill with an additional $56 million for U.S. Department of Energy energy-efficiency programs — a 9-percent increase over last year's expenditure on energy-efficiency research, development and deployment.

In a move described today as "unbelievable" by President Bill Clinton, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) inserted language into the Senate Interior Appropriations bill designed to block the implementation of President Clinton's sweeping executive order issued earlier this month requiring federal agencies to cut their energy use by 30 percent over the next decade.

As homebuyers across America stampede a clogged housing market and homeowners renovate existing homes, the Coalition for Energy-Efficient Homes urges Congress to pass a home energy tax credit bill that will help fight pollution and climate change while furthering the American Dream of homeownership.

"President Clinton has finally plugged some huge energy leaks while making a historic climate change commitment for the largest energy user in the world – the federal government," said Alliance to Save Energy President David M. Nemtzow, strongly commending the White House for today’s executive order on Greening the Government through Energy-Efficient Management.

As Americans recognize Earth Day, a group in Congress is advancing a tax proposal that forecasters predict could significantly cut the more than 22,000 pounds of carbon dioxide generated annually by the average household. If enacted, sponsors on both sides of the aisle predict the Energy Efficient Affordable Homes Act of 1999 (H.R. 1358) will result in long-term energy savings, environmental benefits and cost savings for homeowners and homebuilders who raise the energy efficiency of residential buildings.

The Alliance to Save Energy, the National Association of Home Builders and 30 companies and trade associations joined together in calling on President Bill Clinton for a new package of tax incentives designed to upgrade the energy efficiency of America’s housing stock.

Taxpayers could save $1 billion annually and see a significant reduction in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (7 million tons of carbon dioxide) if the federal government adhered to the Energy Policy Act and executive orders that require agencies to reduce energy waste through improved energy productivity, reports the Alliance to Save Energy and a task force of 50 energy companies and organizations.

Washington, D.C., October 21, 1998--The negotiations between the Clinton Administration and Congressional leaders over an omnibus fiscal year 1999 spending bill yielded solid gains for research and development of energy-efficient technologies.

Contained in the mega-deal was an agreement to add $60 million to the Interior Appropriations conference funding of $631 million dedicated to energy-efficiency programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The agreement goes a long way toward restoring the cuts of nearly one-third that the programs sustained three years ago.

Alliance To Save Energy Notes Ominous Similarities

Washington, DC, October 15-"The United States seems to have forgotten the lessons it learned 25 years ago when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) strangled the U.S. economy with an oil embargo," notes Alliance to Save Energy President David M. Nemtzow, who points out ominous similarities between the current conditions and those that surrounded the oil embargo 25 years ago.

These similarities include: