Upton Promises Manageable Energy Reform

Rep. Fred Upton (pictured), the Michigan Republican seeking to lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has plenty of ideas for energy reform. But they don’t include cap-and-trade, a carbon tax or a monstrous overarching bill. Instead he seeks reasonable, smaller-size reforms, The Hill reports.

“That would be a sharp contrast to current Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who moved a nearly 1,100-page climate and energy bill through the committee in 2009, a measure that narrowly passed the House but died in the Senate,” the news service reports.

“You are never going to see a 1,000 page bill,” Upton says “You are never going to see cap-and-trade or a carbon tax.”
Instead he seeks to meet booming electricity demand with nuclear power, “safe drilling,” “clean” coal, renewable energy, and natural gas -- “the whole portfolio,” he says.