FORWARD ON ENERGY

The energy bill passed by the House was so bad – big subsidies for oil and coal, very little for efficiency – that the Senate’s, by comparison, will have to be better. But just beating the House version is too low a goal; the Senate has several opportunities to spur efficiencies to lower business costs, cut pollution that contributes to climate change and improve vehicle gas mileage to make the nation less dependent on foreign oil.

It should start by closing the SUV loophole that the House left open. The loophole exempts SUVs and light trucks from the fuel standard that cars must meet. Closing the loophole, even if the standard of 27.5 mpg that has been in place since 1988 is not increased, would save 1 million to 1.2 million barrels of oil a day, compared with the roughly 700,000 barrels a day that could be produced from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Moving the standard up, even if only into the mid-30s mpg using currently available technology, would save many times that amount.

Both Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins support closing the loophole, with Sen. Snowe taking a leading role along with fellow Commerce Committee members Sens. John McCain and John Kerry to find a way to improve the fuel-efficiency standard. Whatever level they reach should be high enough to still be meaningful after the needed conference with the House. Forty miles per gallon including SUVs by, say, 2020 might be a good start.

The Bush administration last year cut funds for renewable energy by 50 percent; there’s talk in the Senate of amendments that would roll back standards on appliances such as air conditioners, thereby discouraging currently available technology gains that would let U.S. businesses be more competitive worldwide. A letter being circulated by Sen. Collins gets at the energy-supply portion of this rollback by urging passage of legislation that includes a tax credits for renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. The legislation would require a renewable portfolio standard for electricity suppliers, although the letter doesn’t suggest what percent of a supplier’s energy mix would have to come from the approved renewables list. Maine, which uses lots of hydro power (not on the list) and biomass, would likely meet any standard that could get approved in Congress, but other states would be forced to diversify their sources.

Sen. Collins earlier introduced legislation that would further improve the energy mix by giving greater credit for the use of biomass. Under the current Finance Committee proposal, for instance, wind and even poultry waste get a larger credit over more years than biomass – which can be waste wood, sawdust, corn stalks, etc. The Collins bill would provide parity for this renewable.

The Senate is expected to reject a plan to drill for oil in ANWR, but not until after it has a long debate on the need for independence from foreign oil. Embarking now on a long-term increase in fuel-economy standards, however, can cut the amount of needed foreign oil more and faster, with the added benefit of reducing air pollution. This is the first time in a decade that the Senate has had an opportunity to talk about progress in energy; it should use the chance to make its legislation meaningful.