NEW ENERGY BILLS: POLITICS AS USUAL

Originally posted May 8.
Fresh from the American Solar Energy Society annual conference, it is especially hard to see the Republicrats and Demmicans bickering over ridiculosities in their competing versions of a "new" Energy Bill.

After hearing former Senator Gary Hart's passionate condemnation of the nation’s so-called energy policy and Van Jones' stirring call for a Green New Deal, and Jigar Shah's frank description of the sorry state of the U.S. transmission infrastructure, it is hard to take the Senate's ideas of solutions very seriously.

Senate Republicans' want to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) just to get a few extra months of oil. They also want to legislate a requirement to produce coal-derived gasoline, the idea that lost World War II for Germany and Japan.

Democrats want a 25%, 2-year windfall profits tax on oil company profits not invested in new refinery capacity and the same $17 billion in cuts from fossil fuel industry tax breaks and subsidies that have been defeated 3 times in the last year. Knowing a recalcitrant minority of Republicans mired in 1950s thinking will surely use filibuster rules to again defeat the package, the Democrats are cynically rolling out the populist measures as an election year maneuver.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev): "With this bill Democrats are protecting consumers…Instead of helping Big Oil make more money at the expense of average Americans, we are forcing oil companies to change their ways."

The only thing these “great” political leaders agree on is that the country should stop putting oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) while it costs so much. Brilliant. Like that's going to significantly impact gas pump prices. Gas is going to be expensive now and more expensive soon and more expensive than that later. What the nation needs is a Stategic Solar Reserve and a Strategic Wind Reserve.

Why aren’t they doing something to drive U.S. demand down, like adding a tax to the pump price, a piece of the action they can use to build New Energy? China and India would probably take up the slack in world consumption, keeping prices high, but the U.S. would move more quickly away from the internal combustion engine to cars are not immoral to drive.

The only comfort is that nothing is going to get done at all. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky): "Talk is cheap, but gas is not…" And these Senators aren’t going to do anything about either.

Why is that a comfort? Because these folks have a track record worse than “Heck-of-a-job Brownie.”

The 2007 Energy Bill’s 2 biggest accomplishments were: (1) Upping U.S. auto fleet mileage requirements in 2022 to BELOW what China NOW requires and (2) upping required U.S. production of ethanol and agrofuels, which resulted in the unintended consequence of dramatically adding to a world food crisis.

The 2007 bill had no national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), no extension of vital New Energy production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs), no incentives for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or significant new efficiency measures.

And it carefully protected all existing fossil fuel industry tax breaks and subsidies. President Bush hailed it as important energy legislation and signed it into law.

So it is just as well these characters go on blowing hot air up each others’ noses about drilling more oil and gas tax holidays until they have to face the voters in November. Think the primary season has been messy? Check out the Senators on each others’ energy bills. McConnell (R-KY), on the Democrats’ package: "…predictable, more taxes, more bureaucracy." Reid (D-NV, on the Republicans’ package: "…more of the same failed energy policies that brought us to this point."

Watch this space for information on who has supported New Energy incentives and who has been recalcitrant. And get ready to elect the right leaders in November.

Tell Congress voters are watching them at Support Renewable Energy Tax Credits

Electon Day this year is November 4 but the gimmick is the same. (click to enlarge)

Senators ready dueling energy plans
Chris Baltimore (w/Christian Wiessner), May 1, 2008 (Reuters via Yahoo News)
and
Senate Democrats seek to tax oil companies
H. Josef Hebert, May 7, 2008 (AP via Forbes)

WHO
Senate Democrats (Majority Leader Harry Reid) and Republicans (Minority Leader Mitch McConnell)

It may be over but the Republicans are still partying. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Party leaders from both sides of the aisle introduced competing versions of a 2008 Energy Bill.

WHEN
- The Republicans rolled their bill out May 1. The Democrats replied May 7.
- Senator Reid says he wants a vote on the package by late May, before the Memorial Day recess.

Not funny. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
Republicans emphasize the supply side and Democrats emphasize the demand side.

WHY
- Republican ideas for more drilling in protected ANWR and offshore areas were have been rejected by this Senate last year.
- The Republican bill would (1) allow offshore drilling (2) stop filling the SPR for 180 days (3) require 6 billion gallons of coal-to-liquids fuel by 2022 (4) allow drilling in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah oil shale regions (5) repeal a law against using Canadian oil sands-derived fuel because it produces more emissions than conventional gas
- The Democratic bill would (1) impose a 25% 2-year windfall profits tax on oil company profits not invested in new refinery capacity (2) take $17 billion in fossil fuel industry tax breaks and subsidies (3) stop filling the SPR until oil falls to $75/barrel (4) penalties for energy price gouging (5) tools for regulators to prevent energy market manipulations (6) provisions for Justice Department antitrust actions against OPEC.

The last time Congress got serious about an Energy Bill it brought U.S. standards for 2022 up to where China is NOW - and added to the world food price crisis. Maybe it's better if they do nothing. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash): "What we are hearing from the White House and from the Republicans is the same song, same dance: drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge…We know we can't drill our way out of this problem."
- Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM): "If you voted against it before, take another look at it with oil at $115 a barrel…"