Legislation

S. 2012 - The Energy Policy Modernization Act (EPMA)

July 22, 2015
10:00 AM

A BIPARTISAN BILL FOR A NEW ERA OF ENERGY IN AMERICA

On July 22, 2015, Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) unveiled the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s broad, bipartisan energy bill. Focused on a wide range of national energy opportunities and challenges, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 shows what is possible when Senators work together and strive to reach agreement.

The Energy Policy Modernization Act builds on recent technological breakthroughs and promises to bring substantial benefits to American families and businesses while protecting the environment. It will save energy, expand domestic supplies, facilitate investment into critical infrastructure, protect the grid, boost energy trade, improve the performance of federal agencies, and renew programs that have proven effective. The end result will be more affordable energy, more abundant energy, and more functional energy systems throughout the U.S. to strengthen and sustain our energy renaissance. Best of all, the Energy Policy Modernization Act achieves these goals in a fiscally-responsible manner.

The development of this bill has been open and transparent from the start. Committee staff began the year in listening sessions with stakeholders in Washington, DC and across the nation. The full Committee then held four hearings on 114 bills that were introduced by many Senators on a broad array of topics. After weeks of negotiations, this bill represents the common ground that exists for modernizing our energy policies on efficiency, infrastructure, supply, accountability, and reauthorizing conservation programs.

– SUMMARY OF KEY PROVISIONS –

  • Efficiency – Energy efficiency provides significant benefits for consumers, the economy, and the environment. The provisions in this title include agreements on everything from longer-term utility energy service contracts to the reauthorization of the weatherization and state energy programs. The efficiency of our homes, buildings, and manufacturing facilities all stand to increase as a result of it.

  • Infrastructure – We depend on electrical transmission lines and other infrastructure to transport energy from where it is produced to where it is used. This title will help modernize our electrical grid, enhance cybersecurity safeguards, maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, provide a streamlined process for natural gas export projects, and ensure a qualified, well-trained workforce.

  • Supply – To provide for an energy supply that is increasingly abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure, this title focuses on the development of renewable energy, traditional resources, and non-fuel minerals alike. The responsible development of American resources – including hydropower geothermal, bioenergy and rare earth elements – will strengthen our economy, competitiveness, and security for decades to come.

  • Accountability – Practical reforms are needed to advance innovation, protect electric reliability, and ensure the proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Among the provisions in this title are the reauthorization of certain energy-related components of the America COMPETES Act, better interagency coordination of energy/water initiatives, and the repeal of numerous provisions within the U.S. Code that are outdated or redundant.

  • Conservation Reauthorization – The Committee is also responsible for oversight and stewardship of our public lands. The bipartisan legislation permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund in a way that balances land acquisition with other conservation programs important to states and permanently reauthorizes the Historic Preservation Fund, both set to expire this fall. It also creates a new National Park Maintenance and Revitalization Fund, to address the maintenance backlog at some of our nation’s most treasured public places.

– LEGISLATIVE HISTORY –

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held four oversight hearings on subjects relevant to its consideration of energy policy in the first four months of the 114th Congress. The four hearings were on the state of technological innovation related to the electric grid (March 17, 2015); the Energy Information Administration's annual energy outlook for 2015 (April 16, 2015); reauthorization and potential reforms to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) (April 22, 2015); and the Administration's Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) (April 28, 2015).

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held six legislative hearings on the subjects of liquefied natural gas (LNG) (S. 33, the LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act) (January 29, 2015); energy efficiency (April 30, 2015); critical minerals (S. 883, the American Mineral Security Act of 2015) (May 12, 2015); energy infrastructure (May 14, 2015); energy supply (May 19, 2015); and energy accountability and reform (June 9, 2015) to consider a total of 114 introduced bills.

Subsequently, on July 22, 2015, the Chairman and Ranking Member circulated to Members of the Committee a draft of an original bill drawn from a combination of approximately 50 of the measures considered during the legislative hearings.

The Committee marked up the draft bill over the course of three days in an open business meeting starting on July 28, 2015 and continuing on July 29, 2015 and July 30, 2015. The Committee considered 59 amendments, of which 34 were adopted, nine were rejected, and 15 were offered and withdrawn. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open business session on July 30, 2015 to consider the draft, and ordered an original bill favorably reported.

– FLOOR CONSIDERATION Part 1 –

  • S. 2012 Manager's Amendment
  • Amendment 2965 - Schatz
    • Approved by vote of 55-37

  • Amendment 2968 - Shaheen (as amended)

    • Approved by voice vote

  • Amendment 2970 - Gardner
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 2982 – Markey
    • Approved by vote of 62-29

  • Amendmnent 2984 – Baldwin

    • Approved by voice vote

  • Amendment 2989 - Reed
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 2991 - Inhofe
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 2996 - Sullivan
    • Not agreed to by vote of 49-46
  • Amendment 3001 - Wyden
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3017 – Barrasso (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3019 - Murphy
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3020 – Daines

    • Approved by voice vote

  • Amendment 3021 - Crapo, Whitehouse
    • Approved by vote of 87-4
  • Amendment 3023 - Lee
    • Not agreed to by vote of 47-48
  • Amendment 3029 - Barrasso
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3030 - Barrasso
    • Not agreed to by vote of 52-43
  • Amedment 3056 - Flake (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3063 – Capito
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3064 - Hirono
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3065 - Hirono (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3066 - Hirono
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3067 – Hirono
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3095 - Durbin
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3115 - Franken
    • Not agreed to by vote of 43-52
  • Amendment 3119 - Daines
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3125 - Whitehouse
    • Not agreed to by vote of 43-52
  • Amendment 3137 - Udall
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3140 - Collins, Klobuchar (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3143 - Carper, Inhofe (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3145 - Inhofe, Carper
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3156 - Baldwin
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3160 - Booker
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3174 - Heitkamp
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3176 - Schatz
    • Not agreed to by vote of 45-50
  • Amendment 3179 - Klobuchar
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3182 - Rounds (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3194 - Boxer, Feinstein (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3205 - Inhofe, King
    • Approved by voice vote

– FLOOR CONSIDERATION Part 2 –

  • Amendment 3276 - Cantwell
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3302 - Klobuchar (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3055 - Flake
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3050 - Flake
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3237 - Hatch
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3308 - Murkowski
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3286 - Heller (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3075 - Vitter
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3168 - Portman
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3292 - Shaheen (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3155 - Heinrich
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3270 - Manchin
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3313 - Cantwell (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3214 - Cantwell
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3266 - Vitter
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3310 - Sullivan
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3317 - Heinrich
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3265 - Vitter (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3012 - Kaine
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3290 - Alexander
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3004 - Gillibrand/Cassidy
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3233 - Warner (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3239 - Thune
    • Approved  by voice vote
  • Amendment 3221 - Udall/Portman
    • Approved  by voice vote
  • Amendment 3203 - Coons
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3309 - Portman (as modified)
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3229 - Flake
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3251 - Inhofe
    • Approved by voice vote
  • Amendment 3234 - Murkowski/Cantwell (as modified)
    • Agreed to by vote of 97 to 0
  • Amendment 3202 - Isakson/Bennett
    • Agreed to by vote of 66 to 31
  • Amendment 3175 - Burr (as modified)
    • Agreed to by voice vote
  • Amendment 3210 - Lankford
    • Not agreed to by a vote of 34 to 63
  • Amendment 3311 - Boozman
    • Not agreed to by a vote of 42 to 55
  • Amendment 3312 - Udall
    • Not agreed to by a vote of 50 to 47
  • Amendment 3787 - Paul
    • Amendment fell due to point of order
  • Amendment 2954 - Cassidy
    • Agreed to by voice vote

– MARKUP AMENDMENTS APPROVED –

Related Files

S. 2012 Joint Staff Engrossed Section-by-Section.pdf (468.90 KB) S. 2012 Engrossed Bill Text.pdf (1.24 MB) S. 2012 - EPMA.pdf (516.29 KB) Energy Bill One Pager.pdf (205.49 KB) Energy-Bill-Road-Map-FINAL.jpg (185.05 KB) Energy Bill - Alaska Fact Sheet One-Pager.pdf (160.46 KB) 04 21 16 - Sportsmens AK Fact Sheet.pdf (244.60 KB)