Bombardier
07-28-2005, 02:31 PM
In case you couldn't tell I was being sarcastic. Read on...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8739555/
House approves huge energy bill
Senate vote will follow; taxpayer groups, environmentalists oppose
WASHINGTON - The House by a wide margin approved a mammoth energy plan for the nation Thursday that sends billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies, but is expected to do little to reduce U.S. oil consumption or dampen high energy prices.
“It is not a perfect bill,” said Sen. John Dingell, D-Mich. But he called it “a solid beginning” to diversifying future energy sources, improving the nation’s aging electricity grid and fostering more energy conservation.
The bill was approved 275-156. Congress now awaits action by the Senate, probably on Friday. The White House said President Bush looks forward to signing it into law.
Facing public pressure to outline a direction for the nation’s energy strategy amid soaring oil prices and high gasoline costs at the pump, Bush had called on Congress to give him an energy bill before lawmakers depart for their five-week summer recess.
The 1,725-page bill, the product of weeks of compromise between widely different versions approved by the two chambers earlier this year, would provide $14.5 billion in energy tax breaks, much of it to traditional energy companies. It also provides money for promoting renewable energy sources and new energy technologies and measures to revitalize the nuclear power industry.
‘A good bill for America’
“This is a good bill for America,” declared Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a key author of the legislation.
But opponents called the legislation a giveaway of taxpayer money to large energy companies, including wealthy oil giants reaping record profits with crude oil near $60 a barrel and gasoline averaging well over $2 a gallon.
“This bill is packed with royalty relief, tax breaks, loan guarantees for the wealthiest energy companies in America even as they are reporting the largest quarterly profits of any corporation in the history of the United States,” complained Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.
“It is politically and morally wrong,” he said.
The bill would funnel $2.7 billion in tax breaks to the oil and gas industries and provide additional support in form of royalty relief, including $500 million over 10 years for research into drilling in extremely deep areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
While emphasizing the president’s enthusiasm for the bill, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman acknowledged the administration was concerned about some provisions, including the level of subsidies for profitable oil companies.
“The oil and gas companies don’t need incentives with oil and gas prices being what they are today,” Bodman said Wednesday.
Bodman also expressed concern about a provision that broadens the security review of China’s purchase of a U.S. energy company, a response to the recent bid by a Chinese company for California-based Unocal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8739555/
House approves huge energy bill
Senate vote will follow; taxpayer groups, environmentalists oppose
WASHINGTON - The House by a wide margin approved a mammoth energy plan for the nation Thursday that sends billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies, but is expected to do little to reduce U.S. oil consumption or dampen high energy prices.
“It is not a perfect bill,” said Sen. John Dingell, D-Mich. But he called it “a solid beginning” to diversifying future energy sources, improving the nation’s aging electricity grid and fostering more energy conservation.
The bill was approved 275-156. Congress now awaits action by the Senate, probably on Friday. The White House said President Bush looks forward to signing it into law.
Facing public pressure to outline a direction for the nation’s energy strategy amid soaring oil prices and high gasoline costs at the pump, Bush had called on Congress to give him an energy bill before lawmakers depart for their five-week summer recess.
The 1,725-page bill, the product of weeks of compromise between widely different versions approved by the two chambers earlier this year, would provide $14.5 billion in energy tax breaks, much of it to traditional energy companies. It also provides money for promoting renewable energy sources and new energy technologies and measures to revitalize the nuclear power industry.
‘A good bill for America’
“This is a good bill for America,” declared Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a key author of the legislation.
But opponents called the legislation a giveaway of taxpayer money to large energy companies, including wealthy oil giants reaping record profits with crude oil near $60 a barrel and gasoline averaging well over $2 a gallon.
“This bill is packed with royalty relief, tax breaks, loan guarantees for the wealthiest energy companies in America even as they are reporting the largest quarterly profits of any corporation in the history of the United States,” complained Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.
“It is politically and morally wrong,” he said.
The bill would funnel $2.7 billion in tax breaks to the oil and gas industries and provide additional support in form of royalty relief, including $500 million over 10 years for research into drilling in extremely deep areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
While emphasizing the president’s enthusiasm for the bill, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman acknowledged the administration was concerned about some provisions, including the level of subsidies for profitable oil companies.
“The oil and gas companies don’t need incentives with oil and gas prices being what they are today,” Bodman said Wednesday.
Bodman also expressed concern about a provision that broadens the security review of China’s purchase of a U.S. energy company, a response to the recent bid by a Chinese company for California-based Unocal.