By Debra DeHaney-Howard
April 7, 2008

More than 80 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including several Committee Chairs, are writing leaders of the House Appropriations Subcommittee to convey their support for full funding ($2 billion) for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, a top priority for the Conference of Mayors and the nation’s mayors. In late March month, a bipartisan letter signed by 34 Senators was sent to their respective appropriations panel leaders urging full funding for the EECBG program.

The House bipartisan letter – led by program champions Representatives Albert Wynn (MD) and Michael Turner (OH) – urges Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Chairman Pete Visclosky (IN) and Ranking Member Dave Hobson (OH) to provide full funding for the EECBG program, as they begin their work on the Energy and Water appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009.

The Conference of Mayors has been engaged in a warroom effort to contact Congress and urge their support for full funding for the Block Grant. The Conference has been copied on nearly 1,000 mayoral letters that have been sent to Senators and Representatives, urging their support for funding this new initiative.

Joining on the letter are several prominent House Committee chairs, representing key committees affecting energy, climate protection and related issues. House Budget Committee Chair John Spratt (SC), who is a signer, worked to ensure that the FY’09 budget resolution included additional spending authority for energy efficiency programs.

Also joining the letter is John Dingell (MI), Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel with responsibility for authorizing the EECBG program. The letter was also signed by these other Committee Chairs: John Conyers (MI), Judiciary; Edward Markey (MA), Energy Independence and Global Warming; George Miller (CA), Education and Labor; James L. Oberstar (MN), Transportation and Infrastructure; Charles Rangel (NY), Ways and Means Committee; and Henry Waxman (CA), Oversight and Government Reform.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which was enacted December 19, 2007, authorized $2 billion annually over five fiscal years (2008-2012) for the EECBG program, establishing a new federal partnership with cities, counties and states to address the nation’s energy and climate protection challenges. The energy law authorized this new block grant program but funding is subject to the annual appropriations process.

Under the EECBG program, cities and counties will receive financial resources to assist them in their efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions, reduce total energy use, and improve energy efficiency in the transportation, building, and other appropriate sectors. Through the program, mayors and county leaders will have the flexibility to use block grant funds to develop and implement a broad range of energy efficiency and conservation activities, including installing light emitting diodes (LEDs), developing/utilizing renewable energy sources, updating building codes, developing smarter transportation systems, expanding public education programs, and conducting energy audits. The energy block grant program will be administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

In the Senate, as subcommittees prepare for action on their respective appropriations measures, more than thirty U. S. Senators joined with Senators Richard Lugar (IN), Robert Menendez (NJ), and Bernard Sanders (VT) on their bipartisan letter to leaders of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, urging full funding for the EECBG program in FY’09.

Joining with Lugar, Menendez and Sanders on the March 19th bipartisan letter were Senators: Akaka (HI); Bingaman (NM); Boxer (CA); Brown (OH); Cantwell (WA); Casey (PA); Clinton (NY); Coleman (MN); Collins (ME); Dole (NC); Dodd (CT); Durbin (IL); Feingold (WI); Harkin; Kennedy (MA); Kerry (MA); Klobuchar (MN); Kohl (WI); Landrieu (LA); Lautenberg ((NJ); Levin (MI); Lieberman (CT); Murkowski (AK); Nelson (NE); Obama (IL); Salazar (CO); Schumer (NY); Snowe (ME); Stabenow (MI); Warner (VA); and Wyden (OR).