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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (96425)	1/21/2007 5:10:58 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361250

House OKs tax hike on Big Oil Measure promoting alternative fuels the last proposal on Democrats' '100-hours agenda' By KEVIN G. HALL MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON - House Democrats on Thursday pushed through the last item on their "100-hour agenda," a bill to impose $15 billion in taxes, fees and royalties on oil and gas companies and spend the money on development of renewable fuels. The legislation, called the Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation or CLEAN, fulfilled a Democratic campaign pledge to reach into the pockets of oil companies. "Big Oil has had too much sway in the halls of Congress," said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. She said the new Democrat-controlled Congress "will plan for a more sustainable future." The margin of the House vote - 264-163 - wasn't large enough to override a presidential veto, but President Bush hasn't threatened one, and he's expected to tout alternative fuels in Tuesday's State of the Union address. The Senate is considering similar but less ambitious legislation. The North Coast's Democratic representatives, Mike Thompson of St. Helena and Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma, voted for the bill. House leaders praised the bill's passage as part of their 100-hour agenda. "We have delivered on the promise," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. "We have demonstrated that the Congress of the United States is not a place where good ideas and the optimism of the American people go to die." By rolling back tax breaks and collecting more income from federal offshore oil and gas leases, the bill would make about $14 billion available over 10 years to a new fund for developing alternative and renewable energy sources. While the House bill seeks to cut dependency on foreign oil by investing in alternative energy resources, Republicans, the energy industry and independent experts said it wouldn't do much to reduce the country's reliance on imported oil. Most independent experts say that, at best, conventional ethanol production could displace 10 percent to 16 percent of U.S. motor fuel consumption by 2030. And because the bill would remove tax incentives to explore and produce oil in the United States, it could discourage domestic oil production. "If you want these industries to be strong in a global environment, taking away their ability to invest doesn't seem (to be) smart policy," said Frank Verrastro, director of energy programs for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington who was an energy policy adviser in the Carter administration. He lauded Democratic efforts to promote energy efficiency and conservation, but he said rolling back tax breaks is better politics than energy policy. The American Petroleum Institute argued that U.S. jobs were at stake. "By increasing taxes on domestic operations, you are reducing the return on investment that companies can earn, which increases their cost of capital," said Michael Platner, the institute's director of tax policy. "These tax differences could make enough difference in the cost of a project that you could drive investment overseas. It could drive jobs overseas, absolutely." Such criticism irked Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., one of two Republican co-sponsors of the measure. "My (GOP) colleagues are billing this as a tax increase on oil. This is not true. It attempts to correct an omission," he said. He was referring to a provision that seeks to force oil companies into renegotiating a royalty clause that was accidentally omitted from leases written in 1998 and 1999 for exploration and drilling on federally owned lands. The omission, acknowledged by the Interior Department and subsequently reinserted into leases in later years, costs the Treasury billions in lost revenue. Pelosi on Thursday also said she would push the House to create a special committee on global warming with the intent of producing a bill to combat climate change by July 4. The committee plan rankled some senior Democrats, particularly Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He is a fierce defender of the auto industry, which could be required to producing cleaner-burning and more fuel efficient cars under such legislation. www1.pressdemocrat.com