Wyoming Vote Tracker

Recently Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) criticized pending energy legislation that is sitting in conference committee. The Senate version calls for greater fuel efficiency in automobiles; the House bill would place new taxes on the oil industry and mandate more energy from renewable sources.

Sen. Enzi’s view on the bill is that it is an anti-energy proposal, stating that the combination of no incentives and decreased supply would cause energy prices to go up. In the AP interview, Sen. Enzi also took a jab the Senate Majority “Leader” Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV):

I’m really disappointed in our majority leader saying that he doesn’t think any more coal-fired power plants ought to be built anywhere in the United States, or the world. I don’t know what he thinks they’re going to power the slot machines in Las Vegas on.

The reply from a spokesperson for the Nevada Democrat was priceless. Turns out the anti-coal remark is just Sen. Reid’s “philosophical position”:

But he’s not reaching into every state and taking action. He’s only taking action in Nevada. He’s not going into Wyoming or any other state to step in and prevent the construction of coal plants.

Now we know why he’s not getting anything done in the Senate. He’s only taking action in Nevada.

Summers said Reid believes there may be cleaner coal, but no such thing as clean coal.

“There is technology to construct plants that are cleaner than some of the ones that area already in existence,” he said. “But cleaner isn’t necessarily clean.”

Perhaps it’s time to start thinking that same about subsidizing corn farmers and increasing the size of our grocery bills. In spite of the bias against the coal industry, Sen. Enzi remains optimistic about getting good research:

I really believe in research. I really think that if there’s any problems out there, American ingenuity can solve it. There are a lot of people that say, `No, there are all theses things that just cause problems, let’s not do anything with them.’

We can improve on all of them. We can have the kind of energy we need. We can even have energy independence.

Of course to that, we need a Congress that does something (like authorize drilling in ANWR) once in a while…

HT: Politics West
Technorati Tags: Sen. Mike Enzi, clean coal technology, energy policy

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