7-30-08 by dugan
The noise, hearings and promises in Congress about oil prices and energy relief are adding up to precisely zero result. Even the most modest, targeted bills are falling off the cliff in the Senate, where 41 opponents can block any legislation favored by 59 of their colleagues. White House and Big Oil allies waving the flag of "Drill, Drill, Drill for Oil" aren’t going to let anything else pass until they get their way. They’re trading tactical success for the destruction of wind and solar projects, as well as blocking cop-on-the-beat legislation to calm wild speculation in oil markets.
The most visibly harmful vote came today on a measure (S. 3335) by Sen. Max Baucus of Montana to renew tax credits for wind and solar energy projects as well as some coal projects and hybrid electric vehicles. It also extends other uncontroversial credits, such as for college tuition and teacher supplies, and suspends for another year the vile Alternative Minimum Tax. Here, from the AP story, is the gist of what happened:
Major business groups, usual GOP allies, have implored Congress to act
on the tax credits, many which expired at the end of last year or will
run out at the end of this year. But for many Republicans, it’s a
matter or principle and politics: many oppose what they say are new tax
increases to pay for parts of the package and nearly all say the
Senate’s only business now is acting on an energy bill that promotes
drilling and other measures to boost domestic oil supply.
All 50 state governors also support the credits.
The push for new drilling, off U.S. coastlines and in an Alaskan wilderness preserve, is nothing but a spinmeister’s slogan. It’s short and catchy–drill for oil everywhere and gasoline prices will drop–but it’s a flat-out lie. New drilling in such places takes up to decades to come on line, and wouldn’t produce enough oil to affect prices by more than a few pennies, if that. The governors of Western states are solidly against new offshore drilling, which is a threat to tourism and fishing grounds, among other things.
Unfortunately, the lie catches on because it takes fewer words than the truth.
The victim of the lie is the known benefit of more renewable energy and less oil consumption, both for the environment and for the reduction of U.S. dependence on oil. The multiyear cost of the credits, $18 billion, would be paid for by closing tax loopholes in the financial industry (for instance on profits stashed offshore). In any case, the cost of the program, with its well-understood benefits and thousands of "green jobs," is less than the undeserved royalty relief and other taxpayer subsidies we’re handing over to oil companies, increasing their gaudy profits.
The second victim, a bill (S.3268) to put mild controls and public light on hedge trading in energy markets, has no opposition to the content of the measure, according to the office of its sponsor, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. It has already been amended to take out tougher regulations that opponents disliked.
Now, it’s just another murder by the "drill or else" crowd.
So it’s not quite true that Congress has done nothing. It’s 41 knuckle-draggers in the Senate who have prevented anything from happening.