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Thursday, November 20, 2003
Pull the plug on this energy bill
The energy bill before the Senate carries overtones of the past. The robber barons of a century ago would envy the giant corporate giveaways.
In the audacious use of government to serve private ends, it doesn't get much worse than this. As Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has suggested, the bill aptly could be called the No Lobbyist Left Behind Act.
The plan emphasizes oil, coal and nuclear energy while doing little to promote renewable sources. The bill won't move the United States any closer to energy independence.
But it forks over $1.75 billion to manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE (thought to have contaminated water supplies for 1,500 cities), cuts royalties for drilling on public land and ladles out $23 billion in tax breaks, mostly for coal, oil and natural gas companies.
The bill is so full of corporate favors that the sponsors weren't even embarrassed to subsidize commercial developments in Shreveport, La., and other places with well-positioned congressional members. Supporters justify the tax credits as tied to use of energy-savings features. As a taxpayer advocacy group gleefully has noted, though, the Louisiana shopping mall, which would get a $180 million break, includes a Hooters restaurant.
From the outset, the public's interest has been systematically shoved aside. The bill sprang out of Vice President Dick Cheney's secret discussions with Enron executives and other energy industry "experts."
The House has approved the bill. The Senate should refuse to be party to a mistake of historic dimensions.
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