Daylight Savings Amendment Adopted

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Energy Conference Committee adopted Congressman Fred Upton's amendment to extend Daylight Saving Time (DST) by four weeks, and The National Association of Convenience Stores is supporting the legislation, according to a report in the Michigan-based Niles Daily Star.

Upton first introduced his amendment to lengthen DST by two months in April. The four-week extension was a compromise reached by Upton and members of the U.S. Senate during a conference meeting on Friday. Upton expects the Energy package to be finalized early this week and will be considered by the House and Senate prior to the August recess. Upon House and Senate approval, the President is expected to sign the sweeping energy bill into law shortly thereafter, according to the report.

"Extending daylight saving time makes sense, especially with skyrocketing energy costs. My daylight saving amendment is one small piece of the overall energy package, and with oil at $60 a barrel and gas at $2.50 a gallon, every bit of conservation helps," said Upton.
Extending daylight in the 1970s saved the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day, or 1 percent of the nation's daily energy consumption. Taking the savings figure from the mid 1970s -- 100,000 barrels of oil a day -- and multiplying that by $60 a barrel for 30 days, the savings amounts to at least $180 million for the extended weeks, the report stated.

Upton's bipartisan amendment, co-sponsored by Ed Markey, would extend daylight saving by four weeks, starting the second Sunday of March and lasting through the first Sunday of November. The extension of daylight saving would become effective one year after the enactment of the energy bill, likely March of 2007. The bill also calls for a study on the impact of daylight saving on energy consumption to be conducted no later than nine months after the enactment of the bill.
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