93crawler

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With oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, and the current situation in the Middle East, I don't know why this sort of bill wouldn't pass. Well, I take that back, I know WHY it won't pass---corrupt politicians, and a President directly associated with the oil industry.


Senate Blocks Energy Bill

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By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: December 7, 2007

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — Brushing aside a veto threat from the White House, the House passed a package of energy measures on Thursday that includes a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States. But the measure stalled today in the Senate, as expected.

The bill’s supporters say it will reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil, jump-start development of clean-energy technologies and sharply reduce the nation’s production of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide.

But the complex and costly bill faces the prospect of a radical rewrite in the Senate because of opposition there to two provisions: $21 billion in new taxes, mostly on the oil industry, and a mandate that electric utilities must generate 15 percent of their power from alternative sources, like wind or solar. The White House threatened to veto the bill if the final version contains those or several other provisions passed by the House.

The House vote was 235 to 181, with 14 Republicans voting for it and 7 Democrats voting against. But the measure was blocked in the Senate this morning, as it attracted 53 “yes” votes — 7 short of the number needed to advance it. Forty-two senators voted against it.

Environmental groups, consumer advocates and alternative-energy companies have hailed the bill, but a broad array of opponents, including cattlemen, coal producers and multinational oil companies, are lining up to block it.

The centerpiece of the bill is a requirement that passenger vehicles sold in the United States achieve a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first significant increase in mileage standards since 1975. The provision was a result of a deal brokered by Representative John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who has long protected the domestic automakers’ interests in Washington.

Mr. Dingell gave his reluctant support for the package in a floor statement before the vote, criticizing the process by which the compromise was reached and suggesting he would not be unhappy to see the Senate remove major parts of the overall bill.

“This bill is not the ultimate answer to our dependence on imported oil, to high energy prices or to climate change,” said Mr. Dingell. “But it is a major and important step toward those goals, and, for that reason, I will be voting for it.”

The White House issued a statement immediately after the vote expressing its objections.

“Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in the House today pushed a partisan bill, that members had very little opportunity to study before the vote, which they knew was unacceptable to the president and had no chance being signed into law,” the statement said. “Their proposal would raise taxes and increase energy prices for Americans. That is a misguided approach and if it made it to the president’s desk, he would veto it.”

The bill envisions a sevenfold increase in production of ethanol and other biofuels, from about 5 billion gallons a year today to 36 billion gallons by 2022. It provides incentives for production of diesel fuel mixed with renewable liquids including soy oil and animal fat; cellulosic ethanol made from sugar cane and switch grass and advanced fuels formulated from municipal garbage, wood chips and agricultural waste.

The largest source of these alternative fuels remains corn, and food producers argue that diversion of corn to fuel production is driving up feed prices for cattle, pigs and poultry. They oppose the bill because it raises their production costs and, ultimately, the price of food on the table.

“The ethanol number is definitely too high. It burns more feed and food than we would like,” said Jesse Sevcik, vice president for legislative affairs at the American Meat Institute. “The hog diet is 80 percent corn, and when corn prices double, those producers’ input costs go up pretty substantially.”

The oil industry hopes to eliminate a provision that rescinds more than $13 billion in tax breaks granted in 2004 and 2005, when Congress was in Republican hands. Democratic supporters of the bill said the oil companies could easily afford the new taxes because they were earning record profits on oil selling for more than $90 a barrel. But the oil companies said the money would come from revenue needed to develop new sources of oil and would lead to higher prices at the gasoline pump.

The bill contains hefty incentives for a variety of new energy sources and efficiency measures, like wind turbines, solar arrays, plug-in hybrid cars and more fuel-efficient buildings and appliances.

In the Senate, the prospects for the renewable electricity standard and the oil industry tax package are highly uncertain. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said the Senate could pass an energy bill without those two “millstones.”

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, declined to predict passage, with or without the renewable energy or tax provisions.

“We’re going to try very hard,” he had said Thursday afternoon.

FattyJJ

Biofuels are not the answer to our problems, wtf do they keep trying to push that so hard? Oh, yeah I know, the good ol' buddy system is at work again to make people rich. Solar and wind should be the main focus for energy production, electric and hydrogen should be the focus for auto's. I am glad that this bill didnt pass, not because I support the oil industry, but becasue it should have been written better.

93crawler

Yes it could have been written better, but bio-fuels in conjunction with other renewables are better than nothing. Ethanol should certainly cut back unless they can come up with a way of producing it from something that isn't a food source. They main part I was looking at was the increase in fuel economy standards, which hasn't been done in decades, and the increase in taxes on oil companies. Something needs to be done, and this bill was a least a start. They could always amend this bill later on, and add to it, or subtract from it, when newer developments occur.

FattyJJ

Well, until we can get rid of the good ol' boy network in our country nothing short of a recession is going to change anyones mind.

On a sort of ironic note, I am out of town for business in Houston, Texas and on the way back from eating dinner I passed the old Halliburton HQ.

fmb

FattyJJ:
I'll bet every light in the Halliburton building was on!

This does baffles me; the proposal isn't perfect, but what proposal is? Don't like the amount of corn devoted to ethanol? Toss out a new idea. Don't like the increase in CAFE standards? Figure out a way to increase vehicle mileage with todays vehicle weights and horsepower.

Something else that pisses me off is the idea the oil industry can't afford additional taxation. Give me a freaking break. The industry has posted several record breaking quarters of profits, some companies to the tune of $36 billion (yes BILLION!!!) American cashdollars...

I'm all for providing lower taxes for increased investment and job creation, but the bullshit has to stop somewhere.

FattyJJ

No proposal will ever please everyone, unfortunately.

They had/have a good idea that wouldnt require more corn for ethanol, electric cars. Watch "Who killed the Electric Car".

They have an idea for increased mileage, and some companies are actually using it, none of the US ones, but hell, look at the Jetta TDI, 40 MPG.
TDI vs Prius
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos...vs-hybrid_x.htm

The US would rather spend its borrowed money killing Iraquis and Iran...ies?

93crawler

I've seen it, and we could follow Brazil's lead by using sugarcane, or wood chips or something to that effect---for ethanol that is. Electric cars are definitely one good idea, but battery life has always been an issue. My Aunt actually has an older VW Jetta with the TDI engine, hers is an automatic though, but she still gets at least 45 MPG, with well over 100,000 miles also. The tax breaks given to the oil companies could be better used to fund research into new alternative energy sources/existing ones. CAFE standards should have been raised years ago, and points directly to how deep the oil industries influence in Washington goes.

I just don't understand why the public hasn't voiced its discontent more effectively and aggressively. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would respond to this thread, but I guess that people just don't care as much about this. Everyone will in the coming years when gas hits $5 dollars a gallon or better. I hope our government pulls it head out of it's ass some time soon and does something about our non-existent energy policy.