Washington, DC--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) voted against the House Republican leadership’s energy legislation on Thursday, calling it a “wish list for Big Oil.” Rep. Engel is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power, and the author of the Open Fuel Standard (with Republican Rep. John Shimkus) which would require 50 percent of new automobiles in 2014, 80 percent in 2016, and 95 percent in 2017, to operate on nonpetroleum fuels in addition to or instead of petroleum based fuels.

“This Republican energy package is chock full of legislation to cripple the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and fulfills Big Oil’s wish list.  This is also just the latest in a long line of energy-related bills, with no chance of becoming law, but designed to be political talking points for the Republican majority.  It is a complete disregard of our need to move towards 21^st century energy sources,” said Rep. Engel. 

The legislation (H.R. 4480) combines seven bills seeking to open up more lands to drilling and simultaneously roll back critical clean air protections.  “In many ways, it is unnecessary.  Production on federal lands and waters is higher now than in the final three years of the Bush Administration.  Oil imports are the lowest since 1997. This package will do nothing to create jobs or grow our economy, it will only grow the bank accounts for oil executives.  Congress just acted in a bipartisan manner on prescription drugs, but this legislation takes us back to the same old partisanship,“ added Rep. Engel.

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