WASHINGTON, DC – Representative George Miller (D-CA) issued the following statement on a new legislation offered today by Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the House Resources Committee. The Committee is voting on the bill today.

“Americans need an energy policy for the 21st century, one that is innovative, sustainable, economically sound, and that ensures a balance between the need for more energy and the need to protect our vital environmental and economic resources.

“What Americans are being offered instead, and for a second time this year, is an energy bill from the 19th century, one that relies on drilling along protected coastlines in California and Florida, drilling in the protected Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, wiping out vital environmental protection laws, and one that fails to make any headway in the desperately needed area of energy efficiency.

“The fact is that Republican leaders are shamelessly exploiting the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the disruption it caused to our energy supplies to promote their long-sought radical energy policy that benefits special interest friends in the oil industry at the expense of the rest of America.

“They have already exploited Katrina to cut wage protections in the Gulf region, cut affirmative action for hiring in the Gulf region, impose the use of controversial private school vouchers in the Gulf region, and waive environmental laws in the Gulf region. Now they are planning to devastate vast amounts of America’s most prized environmental possessions across the country, using Katrina as the excuse.

“The lands they would open to oil drilling play a major role in our country’s economy and also in our country’s identity and I will fight against seeing them destroyed for the short-sighted and short-term interests that this bill seeks to serve. I will continue to fight for an energy policy that balances safe new production with significant efficiency gains and continued environmental protections.”