Berkley plans her strategy for green behind the scenes

Friday, June 29, 2007 | 7:19 a.m.

WASHINGTON - If ever there was a chance for Rep. Shelley Berkley to shine, this is it.

As the House prepares to take up its massive energy package, the Nevada congresswoman has a unique opportunity to help craft the debate.

The West is on the forefront of energy issues, and Nevada's experience in producing green electricity from the sun, wind and underground steam could serve as an example as the nation tries to pull away from its reliance on fossil-fuel sources.

With her interest in energy issues as well as her own legislation spelling out ways for the nation to go green, Berkley has the background needed to be an advocate among her peers.

But as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several powerful House committee chairmen unveiled their energy package on Thursday, Berkley was nowhere to be found.

Berkley plans to do her heavy lifting offstage, pressing lawmakers through her position on the Ways and Means Committee. Once in a while she will take to the House floor to make her case.

"What I intend to do in the debate on the floor is use Nevada as an example of what is possible," Berkley, a Democrat, said this week. "I'm going to continue to work with my colleagues to make sure as much of my legislation gets through - I don't want my future grandchildren to have to rely on the Saudis to gas up their cars."

The pressure for alternative energy is now on the lower chamber after the Senate last week failed to pass key green-power proposals. Senators agreed to increase fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks for the first time in decades, but they were unable to press forward on other popular renewable energy measures.

Senate Republicans blocked a plan to set a national goal for renewable electricity production, as Nevada and more than 20 states have done. Republicans also shot down a plan to get rid of $30 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies, and give some of it to green energy producers in Nevada and elsewhere.

As Nevada has been a leader in both, Berkley has a great interest in ensuring her home state's needs get addressed in the energy bill.

Tiernan Sittenfeld, a policy director at the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental lobby, said members such as Berkley will be crucial in articulating the issues as House debate moves forward.

"Being from the West where so much is happening on the energy front, she's well positioned to play a lead role," Sittenfeld said.

Last week, as Ways and Means endured an eight-hour session debating tax policy for the energy package, Berkley was pressing for the tax credits needed for Nevada's growing renewable energy sector.

The state is obviously rich in solar capability and geothermal is something of a holy grail in Nevada, where the growing industry plans to have enough plants in development this summer to double production.

Green energy producers have pleaded with Congress to extend beyond 2009 the production tax credits - the 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour they now receive , which amounts to millions of dollars annually.

With those credits to expire at the end of 2008, producers say they cannot continue investing in new plants without the certainty the credits will be there to help their bottom line.

A tax package that would have secured the credits was shot down in the Senate, where Republicans including Nevada Sen. John Ensign said they could not support paying for renewables at the expense of the oil and gas industry, which would have lost tax breaks.

Republicans argued that saddling oil companies with what amounts to new taxes would result in a gasoline price jump that some estimate would be $6 a gallon.

Berkley voted in favor of green tax credits in committee. Fellow committee member Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev, voted against the package because of a $6 billion green power fund that he fears could be used to create more nuclear power plants and therefore more nuclear waste. Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the only site being studied for a nuclear waste repository.

"The congressman is definitely open to alternative energy sources," spokesman Matt Leffingwell said. "The problem is if nuclear's being touted as a green energy source, but where does that waste go? Nevada."

Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, said after the disappointing showing in the Senate, his industry is depending on the House to secure the tax breaks his industry says it needs to be a player in the market.

He wants to believe Berkley can play a role for Nevada's green energy producers, but his optimism only goes so far. The fight can be difficult and Berkley, a five-term congresswoman, is still considered young by Hill standards.

"The problem is, she's new to the committee, she isn't in leadership," Gawell said. "Give her a couple of years."