Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill

A joint statement by Friends of the Earth and ten other environmental and consumer advocacy organizations criticizing a U.S. energy bill for failing to address global warming or oil dependence while providing subsidies to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.

• The energy bill is described as a failure that does not reduce oil dependence, address global warming, or invest in clean energy, instead providing tens of billions of dollars to the nuclear, coal, oil, and gas industries.
• The bill contains provisions that weaken environmental and consumer protections, including amending the Safe Drinking Water Act to allow unregulated underground chemical injection during geothermal and oil and gas development, and granting oil and gas construction activities exemptions from certain Clean Water Act runoff requirements.
• The legislation provides significant financial support to the nuclear and coal sectors, including a $2 billion risk insurance program for up to six new nuclear reactors, over $6 billion in incentives to burn coal for electricity, and federal loan guarantees for at least 16 new coal-fired power plants.
• The bill impacts state authority and legal liability, specifically by repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act, pre-empting state authority over the siting of transmission lines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and extending the Price Anderson Act for 20 years to limit nuclear industry liability.
• The bill promotes oil and gas expansion through $1.5 billion in subsidies for ultra-deep drilling, the development of a commercial oil shale/tar sands leasing program, and provisions allowing the oil industry to avoid royalty payments for drilling off the coast of Alaska.

APA

Fox, A. (2008). Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/news/2008-11-summary-of-the-harmful-provisions-in-the-energy-bill/

Chicago

Fox, Audrey. Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill. Friends of the Earth, 2008. https://foe.org/news/2008-11-summary-of-the-harmful-provisions-in-the-energy-bill/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Fox |first1=Audrey |title=Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=5 November 2008 |url=https://foe.org/news/2008-11-summary-of-the-harmful-provisions-in-the-energy-bill/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{fox2008summary, author = {Fox, Audrey}, title = {{Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2008}, month = nov, url = {https://foe.org/news/2008-11-summary-of-the-harmful-provisions-in-the-energy-bill/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }