CLEAN ECONOMY JOBS AND INNOVATION ACT PASSES HOUSE (HR 4447)

Washington, D.C. - September 27, 2020 - (The Ponder News) -- The House of Representatives passed H.R. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act. This legislation increases research and development across all forms of energy generation, funds the science to support breakthrough technologies and modernizes the country’s energy infrastructure.

“This legislation is about winning the race to the jobs and technologies of the future. Western Pennsylvania has done it before,” said U.S. Representative Connor Lamb (D-PA, 17th). “Our people drilled the first oil wells, built the first nuclear plant, and changed the world with the shale revolution. We can and must do it again. Government research has always been a key ingredient in winning the race and creating jobs, and this bill will help make sure that Western Pennsylvanians will provide energy and technology to the nation long into the future.”

In addition to expanding research for Fossil, Wind, Solar, Nuclear energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, H.R. 4447 also increases research for industrial technologies that can increase efficiency and drop emissions; boosts funding for electric vehicle manufacturing in the U.S.; increases federal programs to make homes and buildings more energy efficient; facilitates commercializing the scientific breakthroughs developed at our national labs; and more than doubles the authorization for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (known as ARPA-E), which funds the most innovative and moonshot-style research projects.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) located in Western Pennsylvania is the lead lab for Fossil research, and under the bill will research Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) technologies, methane leaks, and rare earth elements, among other relevant areas.

Click here for more information on the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.

California Republican Congressman Opposes Democrats Partisan Energy Takeover Bill

The White House threatens to veto the Democrat's energy bill

Congressman Doug LaMalfa issued the following statement after voting against H.R. 4447, the Democrats’ Partisan Energy Takeover Bill. H.R. 4447 promotes far left energy policies that will cost American taxpayers more than $135 billion dollars.

LaMalfa said: “This legislation is another attempt by Democrats to force expensive, unreliable, and unrealistic ‘Green New Deal’ priorities on the American people. This bill also completely disregards the needs of rural America, prioritizing billions in funding to large cities. California is again facing expected power shut-offs because of the policies found in this legislation. Forcing the rest of the country to adopt the failure of California’s energy policy is wrong. Additionally, by effectively forcing a phase-out of hydropower, thousands of Northern Californians are put at risk to lose their clean, reliable energy source. This legislation is the House Majority’s absurd attempt at pandering to urban environmentalists, and does not contain real solutions for rural Americans, like encouraging the use of hydropower, investing in biomass power development that will help reduce wildfire risks, and increasing water storage.”

Specifically, H.R. 4447 includes the following provisions:

$36 billion for electric vehicle (EV) related programs, including federal-fleet mandates requiring at least half of all light-duty vehicles to be zero emission or hybrid by 2025

$650 million for areas to convert to electric school busses and EV infrastructure

$17.5 billion for city-oriented conservation block programs

$20 billion to establish a federal “green bank” to subsidize green energy projects

Effectively bans new pipeline projects

Discourages new investment in hydropower