Section by Section Summary of the Bill


What are the powers that be saying about the "American Power Act."

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA-4th)
“This bill is just another iteration of the cap-and-trade legislation which passed the House last year over the objection of the American people. Much like the recent government takeover of health care, this legislation was crafted behind closed doors and is chock full of backroom deals and special interest payoffs. More accurately described as ‘cap-and-tax’, this legislation is nothing more than a national energy tax. It is bad energy policy that will increase energy costs for families and small businesses, devastate manufacturing, energy and agriculture industries, and ship jobs oversees to countries like China and India, all without resulting in a reduction in global temperatures. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to put their constituents first by voting against this job-killing legislation.”

Interpretation: What else would you expect from a couple Yankees?

T. Boone Pickens
“Senators Kerry and Lieberman are to be commended for a plan that recognizes the economic and national security threat of our ever-increasing dependence on foreign oil, particularly OPEC oil. Achieving energy security is not easy and I applaud their focus on a broad energy package that includes replacing foreign oil/diesel/gasoline with cleaner, abundant domestic natural gas in America’s heavy duty vehicle fleets. I look forward to working with them in the coming weeks to focus attention on that aspect of their legislation. More than 1.6 million Americans have signed on to my campaign to solve the foreign oil crisis, and I’m going to see to it that this objective is achieved as the legislative process evolves. Using natural gas as a transportation fuel is a non-partisan issue. The time to act is now.”

Interpretation: So long as this thing has the natural gas act in it I’m happy

America’s National Gas Alliance (www.ANGA.us)
“We appreciate the inclusion of language aimed at helping move toward the greater use of natural gas in merchant power generation and vehicles. While a useful starting point, we believe much more could be done right now to significantly reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants by providing clean energy transition incentives to electric utilities as well.

Interpretation: We are pissed. All our cozying up to Washington DC and bazillions spent on ads and we’re still not getting R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Daphne Wysham, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies on the Huffington Post
“Do we really need more than the 2 billion tons of carbon offsets per year already provided under the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill? The U.S. Government Accountability Office studied carbon offsets and found them impossible to verify. This quantity of carbon offsets means the U.S. could make no verifiable emissions reductions until at least 2030, making the 17 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels promised by 2020 meaningless in the short-term-- when it's needed most.”

Interpretation: I won’t be happy until we bring this nation to its knees economically.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
"While I have not seen the changes made by Senators Kerry and Lieberman to the final product, I look forward to reviewing their proposal in regards to offshore drilling, the transportation sector, and other issues.

Interpretation: Boy am I glad I got off this sinking ship when I did, I got to get reelected. Never too early to plan ahead

President Barack Obama
“I applaud Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman for their tireless work in drafting this important legislation. This legislation will put America on the path to a clean energy economy that will create American jobs building the solar panels, wind blades and the car batteries of the future. It will strengthen our national security by beginning to break our dependence on foreign oil. And it will protect our environment for our children and grandchildren.”

Interpretation: You didn’t think I’d actually breathe the words “natural gas” did you?