“While there is no easy solution to our energy crisis, we should take a thoughtful, fact-based approach that examines how we got here, how to help families struggling with rising gas prices in the short term, and how to develop a long term strategy that decreases our dependence on foreign oil and reduces our greenhouse gas emissions.” -Rush Holt
High gas prices – which reached over four dollars a gallon this summer - have put a toll on Central New Jersey families. Rep. Holt remains concerned about the impact these prices are having on American consumers. While there is no easy solution to our energy crisis, he believes we should take a thoughtful, fact-based approach that examines how we got here, how to help families struggling with rising gas prices in the short term, and how to develop a long term strategy that decreases our dependence on foreign oil and reduces our greenhouse gas emissions.
As an energy scientist who spent nearly a decade working at one of the nation’s premier alternative energy research labs, Rush Holt has worked in Congress to help craft a strategy that will provide real energy security. He believes that Congress should focus on the development of sustainable energy sources that reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. By doing so, we can fulfill the energy needs of a growing economy without compromising our national security interests or devastating our environment.
Rush Holt cosponsored and voted for H.R. 6, Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, historic energy legislation to decrease our dependence on foreign fuels and increase the use of renewable energy. This legislation, signed into law on December 19, 2007, will reduce projected greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a quarter by 2030. With Rush’s support, the bill included the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars in 32 years. The bill also requires buildings and appliances to be more energy efficient, provides for green job training, and requires the United States to engage the global community in setting strong emissions standards that will slow the rate of global warming.
In order to promote efficiency in energy consumption, Rush Holt pushed for energy efficient green schools by helping to write legislation, passed in the House, to help states and localities to develop school construction to improve energy efficiency.
Rep. Holt believes that one way to deal with our nation’s rising gas prices is to utilize information technology to allow drivers to utilize existing transportation systems more efficiently. Rush succeeded in enacting an intelligent transportation initiative to help decrease the amount of fuel wasted in traffic by increasing real-time traffic monitoring, alternate route planning, and congestion management.
To help lower gas prices in the short term, Rep Holt supported releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Before this year, oil had been released three times from the SPR since it was established, and in each instance it has brought down oil prices by up to 33 percent. By suspending contributions to the SPR more gas has been available in the consumer marketplace.
Rush Holt believes that speculation in the commodities futures marketplace has had a significant impact in the rising cost of gasoline and has supported legislation which would help stop speculation in the energy marketplace.
Rush Holt opposes taking steps backward that would do little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. While he supports existing efforts to explore oil domestically, he consistently has opposed to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. Holt also is opposed to any new drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). He voted against the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act, which would open up new areas of the OCS for oil and gas drilling.
Rather than have an energy policy dominated by drilling, Rush Holt believes that one of the essential components of a long term energy strategy should be encouraging the production of alternative energy from renewable resources.
To help end our nation’s dependence on foreign fuels, Rush Holt introduced the Renewable Energy Tax Extenders Act, H.R. 6914, which would extend for 10 years the tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, fuel cell, and other sustainable energy technology. Rep. Holt also introduced the Energy Efficient Vehicles Act, H.R. 6915, to expand the tax credits available for hybrid and electric cars.
Additionally, Rep. Holt is a strong supporter of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which would ensure that a certain percentage of electricity be produced by renewable sources. The RPS is one of the most effective ways to promote the use of renewable energy while maintaining the flexibility required for each region of the country to choose the renewable technologies best suited to their climate and resources. Rush Holt is a cosponsor of legislation (H.R 969) that would establish a 20 percent RPS by the year 2027.