ENERGY BILL: WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS

Given the staunch White House support of the fossil fuel industries despite its lip service toward the development of alternative transportation fuels, the most likely goals left to Congressional leaders would be extensions of production tax credits to renewable energy producers. Winning them would be a noble victory in the face of opposition that refuses to see what the American people want (renewable energy) and what America’s future demands (sustainable development). (Also see yesterday's post: ENERGY BILL INSIDE BASEBALL

White House lays out energy ‘framework’
Jim Snyder, October 17, 2007 (The Hill)
and
Bush Threatens to Veto Energy Bill Over Oil Taxes
Tina Seeley, October 16, 2007 (Bloomberg via Yahoo News)

WHO
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy/National Economic Council Director Allan Hubbard; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House committee chairmen

Pelosi, Bush, Reid: Can't you just FEEL the love?

WHAT
Hubbard wrote to House leaders, describing a “basic framework” for an energy bill that would not be vetoed by the President. According to insiders, Hubbard described “deal-makers and deal-breakers.”

WHEN
Hubbard’s letter was delivered the week of October 15.

WHERE
This is part of a much larger struggle between the White House and Congressional Democrats.

WHY
- The President is exerting every effort to avoid a lame duck presidency. Congressional Democrats, elected in a 2006 popular uprising against the Iraq war but unable to do anything significant about it, are angling for any opportunity to represent their base.
- Lobbying efforts by the auto industry and utility companies prevented the House and Senate from achieving unanimity on energy issues.
- The White House backs many of those lobbyists’ policy approaches:
(1) While the Senate was able to pass a stronger Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standard, the House could not push it through and now the White House is saying they will allow a stronger CAFÉ standard for autos but not trucks, sustaining an important loophole in the law through which the US auto industry has driven dreadful mileage performances for years.
(2) The House passed a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) mandating all states obtain 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020 but southeastern utility lobbyists defeated the measure in the Senate and the White House accepts their unsubstantiated claim the renewable resources in the southeast are inadequate to implement the RES.
(3) The House but not the Senate passed measures that could potentially cost fossil fuel industries and especially oil producers $16 billion in an effort to shift incentives to renewable energy industries. Hubbard’s letter unequivocally rejects increasing the tax burden on the oil industry.
(4) Also rejected by the White House are provisions allowing Congress to sue OPEC and prosecute gas price-gouging.
(5) The White House letter reportedly left little room in that area for real compromise.

If negotiations break down, consider The Onion's energy bill. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Hubbard (for the President): “[New CAFÉ standards should be] based on sound science, safety and cost-benefit analysis…[The legislation should not] raise taxes nor use the tax code to single out specific industries…''
- Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming: ``The price of oil is skyrocketing…We welcome a battle with him on these issues.''
- White House spokeswoman Dana Perino: ``There's no doubt that energy prices are too high…We're asking the Senate to push forward a more ambitious bill so that we can get out of this vicious cycle of the problem of supply and demand and get some alternative energies.''
- Christine Tezak, Washington analyst: “All energy legislation that sits around too long, it starts to stink and it's harder to get through.''