Daschle Energy Plan Wrong for America

Daschle Energy Plan Wrong for America

Labor and Environmentalists Both Find Energy Bill Wanting

December 7, 2001

(Washington, DC) – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined environmental groups today in criticizing Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-SD) new energy bill. Several environmental groups circulated materials that strongly criticized the nuclear energy component of Daschle’s bill.

“While we may differ with some environmental groups on certain issues, we agree in our overall assessment of the Daschle plan – it’s wrong for America,” said Jerry Hood, Teamsters Special Assistant for Energy.

In a letter to the Senate, the groups also highlighted the fact that Daschle’s bill was drafted outside of the Senate’s traditional democratic process. Greenpeace has condemned the bill as “dirty,” “lip service,” and acknowledged that the “Daschle plan will not get us off our dependence on foreign oil or lead to a secure energy future.”

“By circumventing the legislative process and drafting his bill behind closed doors, Senator Daschle has avoided a full and fair airing of the energy debate,” Hood said. “What America is left with, instead, is a plan that pleases no one and is a testament for why the Senator shouldn’t have shut down the legislative process in the first place.”

Hood renewed his call to allow the Senate to consider HR 4, the comprehensive energy bill already passed by the House of Representatives.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hard working men and women throughout the United States and Canada.