Energy and the Environment

Policy Priorities for 2008

• Ensure that regulation of air emissions is based on sound science and focuses on performance and market-based programs, rather than on command-and-control mandates.
• Participate in all major rulemakings on air quality, including, but not limited to, ozone, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases.
• Support fair implementation of air quality standards.
• Urge the federal government to take into account the growing impact of pollution from outside the United States regarding compliance with domestic air quality regulations.

• Urge Congress to carefully review the climate change issue before taking further action. Ensure that any climate change policies do not place unreasonable burdens on businesses and the economy.
• Oppose proposed legislation and regulations that fail to satisfy the Chamber's five core principles: the legislation and regulations must (1) address the international nature of global climate change, (2) promote accelerated technology development and deployment, (3) preserve American jobs and the economy, (4) reduce barriers to development of climate-friendly energy sources, and (5) promote energy efficiency measures.
• Champion efforts by industry to develop energy-efficient technologies and export them to the developing world, where the bulk of new greenhouse gas emissions originate.
• Ensure that developing nations share responsibility for addressing climate change.

• Urge Congress to authorize environmentally compatible exploration for oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), on other federal lands, and in portions of the Outer Continental Shelf now closed to drilling.
• Advocate for the construction and operation of renewable energy projects, such as wind energy facilities.

• Advocate for full funding and implementation (primarily the innovative energy technologies provisions) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) while preventing its repeal, rollback, or defunding.

• Increase public education and the accessibility of information concerning innovative energy technology developments that underpin policy negotiations related to ensuring adequate energy supply here and in international markets where U.S. business and industry operate.

• Support ratification by the United States of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and thus be bound by its provisions. The treaty provides certainty in access to resources in the Arctic and Antarctic and could ultimately enable American businesses to explore the vast natural resources contained in the seabeds in those areas.

• Modernize the National Environmental Policy Act to streamline and enhance public participation in the review and permitting process.
• Revitalize the Endangered Species Act to improve success in recovering species and promote cooperative partnerships between the federal government and landowners to reduce the law's burden on local economies.

• Educate Chamber members and policymakers about the tremendous local, national, and global economic implications of water policy and promote the use of sound science in setting policy.
• Monitor water supply, ownership, and quality concerns, including recent enforcement efforts targeting storm water discharges.

• Continue to work with the nuclear industry in support of a final permit for Yucca Mountain and for full funding of the project as a repository for nuclear waste.