Making energy experts out of our legislators

The Senate has finally passed the renewable energy bill on the third and final reading after languishing for eons at the committee level. Now, it is up for Congress to reconcile both the Senate and House versions before the bill could be signed into law.

The news is a welcome whiff of fresh air; a respite from endless bickering among senators and parade of scandal accusations.

Why should our lawmakers take years to "read" important pieces of legislation? Due to delays in reading,  some bills are overtaken by events that they are no longer relevant. An example is the law dismantling the telecommunication monopoly years back. That law requires the new entrants to put up x kilometers of landlines if they wanted a piece of the action. Due to delays, the wireless revolution made many of these landlines virtually useless and nearly drowned those who did the mandatory roll out.

Nowadays in the U.S., energy issues occupy as much prominence and generate as much debate as Iraq and Afghanistan. In July for example, a bill to curb excessive speculation on oil was sponsored at the height of the oil price madness. This comes on the heels of a landmark passing of the energy bill of 2007. On the pipeline are a highly complex legislation on carbon emission through a cap-and-trade program and a carbon tax.

These pieces of legislation are highly involved and demand extensive research and voluminous background material.

What makes the U.S. energy lawmakers seemingly expert in this area whom I would imagine to be of similar breed as our local donkeys?

The September-October issue of EnergyBiz, a leading and award-winning publication in the energy sector, offers an explanation. On complex issues like futures trading, emission offsets and incentives to alternative energy developers, members of Congress usually turn to little-known Congressional Research Service (CRS) office.

Located across the Capitol, the CRS is one of the three major agencies that help Congress perform its job well; the other two being the Government Accountability Office (similar to our Commission on Audit) and the Congressional Budget Office which assists in determining the cost of legislation and other budgetary matters.

What makes it different from the energy committee staff for example, is that it is non-partisan and is not associated with any of the political parties or with the executive branch. The CRS listens to lobbyists but considers their position with healthy skepticism. It shifts through contradictory reports, verifies the veracity of data sources, and is ready to shoot down assumptions forwarded if need be.

For example, during the debate of the Clean Air Act of 1990, the CRS both examined the wide gap between the Environmental Protection Agency's cost estimate of $25 billion for the industry as against a claim of $80 billion by the National Association of Manufacturers.

We need a similar body to advise our honorable ladies and gentlemen in Congress on such matters as energy policies, alternative energy incentives, science development, consumer protection in the face of melamine and endosulfan scares, drugs policy and the like.

On energy, the Department of Energy can only do little, as it is beholden to its boss at Malacanang, and is subject to political machination come appointment time and budgetary allocation.

Like its U.S. counterpart, this proposed body should be composed of experts in energy, and doing full-time work in support of energy legislation. Its professionals should constantly monitor the radar screen of energy development, energy innovation and worldwide trends in energy policy.

If one observes a senate session during those few times when its members are actually talking about sensible legislation, much of the time is spent on points of clarification simply because our lawmakers are not well-grounded on the subject at hand. All the finer points of legislation should have been resolved even before a proposed legislation is brought before the members of a committee--not during a plenary session.

One cannot just pull out an academic teaching heat transfer and declares him a resource person and an expert on energy efficiency. Or hire a fresh graduate in science and ask her to research on energy policy.

Creating meaningful energy legislation cannot be relegated to the same level as the congressmen's favorite bills of renaming streets and towns in honor of their deceased forebears.