Washington, D.C. – One year ago today, President George W. Bush signed into the law the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This bipartisan bill was the first comprehensive energy bill passed by Congress in 13 years.

When Senator Pete V. Domenici became chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee in January, 2003, he announced that a new energy policy for America was his top legislative priority. Domenici worked closely with Ranking Member Jeff Bingaman and the chairmen and ranking members of the relevant Senate and House committees to write and pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005. On July 28, 2005, the House approved the EPAct05 conference report 275-156. The Senate showed equally strong bipartisan support, approving the conference report 74-26 the following day. President Bush signed the bill into law on August 8, 2005 in a signing ceremony in New Mexico.

Today, only a year after it was signed into law, the impact of this new energy policy can be seen in the expanded production and conservation of energy, the growing investment in clean and renewable energy and the unprecedented commitment to developing new energies and energy technologies.

Chairman Domenici’s statement:

“When we passed the bill, I didn’t dream that a year later utilities would have announced plans to build as many as 25 new nuclear power plants in the next 20 years. We verge on the nuclear power renaissance I have hoped for. We are revitalizing rural America, creating jobs in towns that haven’t enjoyed enough prosperity. Since we passed the energy bill, 29 new ethanol plants have broken ground and nearly 150 are planned. Because of this bill, we have seen a surge in the use of renewable energy. We are bringing enough new wind energy online this year to power a million households. By the end of next year, we will have enough new wind energy online to power nearly four million households.

“It wasn’t a perfect bill. We didn’t do as much for oil and gas production as I would have liked and, as result, the bill has not improved their supply or price. I remain very concerned about high oil and gas prices and have worked this year to address that problem. But I was proud of what we accomplished with this bill when we passed it a year ago. I am even prouder today.”

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today released an anniversary report, “The Impact of the Energy Policy Act of 2005,” that quantifies the broad effect of EPAct05 to date as will as outlines the anticipated impact of the legislation in the new future. The report can be found on the committee website at:

http://energy.senate.gov/public/_files/TheEnergyPolicyActof2005anniversaryreport5.doc