Right now, the House is in full debate over an energy bill that has some good and some bad energy policies.

You can read the statement NRDC's President issued today in response to this bill: http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080916.asp

Among the good provisions are energy efficiency codes for buildings and incentives for solar and wind energy. Among the bad is oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet.

Having worked on Capitol Hill, I understand the compromise that went into crafting this bill and the difficult decisions that must be made. But certain decisions should be easy: we should invest in clean, renewable energy, not more of the same policies that got us into this mess. Right? Wrong.

This legislation is the result of policy being hijacked by politics, and it is clear that Big Oil paid big bucks to sway the politics in their favor. According to the nonpartisan group Public Campaign Action Fund, Big Oil spent more than $200 million on advertising in the first six months of 2008. They fed off the fears of Americans forced to cope with rising energy costs and distorted the facts.

Oil companies know we can not drill our way out of this problem, and even Phyllis Martin, a senior analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy, says they are "wrong to say it'll have a big impact on prices."

Yet as we watch the House debate unfold, we should look for allies of Big Oil to offer even more drilling and other bad alternatives. They will do this through something called a "Motion to Recommit," which in real people's terms means they will vote to amend the bill. This would be an unfortunate outcome, and Americans deserve better energy policies that will move our country forward.