GOP counters Democrats with "drill bill"

The Republican party has responded to the Democrats' proposed cap-and-trade legislation with a bill of its own that abandons carbon trading and instead prioritises nuclear energy.

The American Energy Act highlights both nuclear energy and further domestic oil exploration as two routes to American energy independence. One of the most significant clauses in the bill prevents the Nuclear Regulatory Commission refusing a licence on the grounds that there may be nowhere to store the nuclear waste.

The US government has been embroiled in controversy over delays to Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear waste storage facility that will be contained in a hollowed-out mountain in the Nevada desert. Energy secretary Steven Chu has said the site is no longer considered viable. The bill attempts to solve the nuclear waste problem at least in part by mandating a licensing process for nuclear waste recycling plants within two years of its passing.

"In the midst of the worst recession and highest unemployment in decades, the Democrats' answer is a national energy tax that will lead to higher energy prices and massive job losses for the American people," said Mike Pence, chairman of the American Energy Solutions Group.

Pence also argued that the introduction of cap-and-trade legislation would drive manufacturing plants overseas, where a lack of oversight might cause even more environmental damage.

"In short, the Democrats' national energy tax wages economic war on America's families, businesses and family farms and they deserve better," he added.

The bill also promotes further domestic oil exploration, and proposes to open up the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf, an area that has traditionally been off limits, and which has been a bone of contention between Democrats and Republicans.