Report Title:

Requesting Congress to enact stronger energy policies

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

64

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

requesting the United States Congress to enact stronger energy policies that will improve energy efficiency, develop and encourage renewable energy, reduce gasoline consumption for transportation, and switch from fossil fuels to alternative fuels.

 

WHEREAS, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released on January 1, 2001 stated that, "An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system"; and

WHEREAS, this report builds on past assessments of climate data and incorporates new analysis that provides further evidence of global climate change attributable to human emissions of greenhouse gases; and

WHEREAS, the most certain method to address human effects on global climate is to curb emissions of greenhouse gases through extensive use of renewable energy sources, energy conservation, and energy efficiency; and

WHEREAS, the Federal government has not dedicated resources towards these methods to curb greenhouse gas emissions on a scale commensurate with the problem of climate change; and

WHEREAS, President Bush's recent decision to not regulate carbon dioxide emissions further deviates from policies that address the problem of climate change; and

WHEREAS, with 4% of the world's population but 25% of global greenhouse gas production, the United States has moral and ethical obligations to our future citizens and also to other nations to address the problem of climate change; and

WHEREAS, recent criticism from European Union nations about President Bush's commitment to addressing climate change underscores the fact that this issue affects national interests; and

WHEREAS, the United States must consider a national energy policy that diversifies our energy supplies to shield consumers from price spikes, reduce our over-reliance on polluting fossil fuels, and promotes much more aggressively the use of clean renewable energy and energy efficient resources; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed a field experiment involving the injection of 40 to 60 metric tons of liquefied carbon dioxide into the ocean at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority Research Corridor located in Kona, Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, numerous concerned citizens have raised legitimate concerns over the environmental impact of this carbon dioxide ocean sequestration experiment including, but not limited to, changes in seawater chemistry and effects on marine organisms in the vicinity of the experiment; and

WHEREAS, one of the stated goals of the Department of Energy's Carbon Sequestration Program is to develop sequestration practices that do not introduce any new environmental problems; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, requests that the United States Congress enact stronger energy policies that will improve energy efficiency, develop and encourage renewable energy, reduce gasoline consumption for transportation, and switch from fossil fuels to alternative fuels; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the proponents of the carbon dioxide ocean sequestration experiment must address and disclose all concerns, potential impacts, and mitigative measures in environmental documents required under all applicable environmental laws and regulations, including but not limited to the National Environmental Policy Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, the Hawaii Congressional Delegation, the Director of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Office of Environmental Quality Control, the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, and the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research.