WP,pg1: Democrats Hope to Take From Oil, Give To Green Energy

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats Hope to Take From Oil, Give To Green Energy
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 4, 2007; Page A01

House Democrats are crafting an energy package that would roll back billions of dollars worth of oil drilling incentives, raise billions more by boosting federal royalties paid by oil and gas companies for offshore production, and plow the money into new tax breaks for renewable energy sources, congressional sources said yesterday.

Eager to paint themselves as different from the Bush administration and the past Republican majority, Democratic leaders are targeting a manufacturing tax cut in 2004 that they say gave unneeded incentives to the oil industry, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said in a briefing yesterday. Hoyer said Democrats are also planning to force oil companies to pay royalties on deepwater Gulf of Mexico tracts leased in 1998 and 1999; the Interior Department has said that the leases inadvertently failed to include provisions for royalty payments once oil prices rose above certain thresholds.

The repeal of the 2004 tax cuts for the oil and gas industry would generate nearly $5 billion, Democratic lawmakers said, quoting estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation. The royalty payments would yield between $9 billion and $11 billion, Hoyer said.

But energy industry and congressional sources said that the details of the package remain in flux, in part because of disagreements among Democrats over how the revenue would be used and whether to also roll back oil and gas industry incentives in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was supported by many Democrats.

Democratic leaders said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would introduce the energy package on Jan. 18, toward the end of the "100 hours" of legislative initiatives....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301857.html

[wtmusic]

1. The Decider is sure to veto that one nt

[truthisfreedom]

2. Go Nancy! Force bush to show his colors to the nation!

Force him to show that he doesn't care about the future of our country!

[onehandle]

3. Investigate price gouging and communications with the White House, Now! nt

[Beetwasher]

4. "the leases inadvertently failed to include provisions for royalty payments ..."

Yeah, right, it was inadvertent. :eyes: Who the fuck do they think they're kidding?

[Javaman]

5. Perhaps she was reading my DU journal...

Go down to the 7th paragraph...

Peek Oil Denial?
Posted by Javaman in General Discussion
Thu Apr 27th 2006, 04:00 PM
Various people have posted on DU, complaining about the rising cost of gas at the pump. And they call for all sorts of protests, threats, etc., that we should launch to lower the prices.

And yet at the same time, we scream and yell that peek oil is here, saying, "boy, America is going to have one heck of a wake up call". Well, guess what, we are that same America and that wake up call is now.

Is it me or is there a colossal disconnect?

Yes, I agree that the bastard oil companies are gouging us, but on the other hand, supplies are growing short and it's no mystery that the Saudi's are at their pumping limits to cover the rising demand.

China and India are demanding more and more oil. China in particular. They are making major trading deals with the countries in the middle east. They see how morons* war hasn't solved a thing and has indeed made things far worse for us. Our lack of diplomacy is literally killing us.

The reality is now folks, high gas prices are here to stay. Ranting, raving and stamping our feet isn't going to do a thing anymore. Accept the concept that cheap gas is a thing of the past.

Moron* pays us nothing but lip service. Not one of his* recent proclamations regarding our "addiction" to oil is backed up by money, action, laws or conservation. Cutting shipments to the strategic oil reserves is a temporary fix at best and the cuts to the environmental requirements on gas production to "help" the oil companies refine more fuel, won't make a difference either and cause more pollution, he* said it himself that it's still going to be a long hard summer at the pump and probably won't make much of a difference. So why the cuts? Obvious. To fill his oil buddies pockets some more.

If we really want to make a difference, write to congress and tell those do nothing fools to pass a bill on conservation and to tax the profits of the oil giants. And with those taxes, lay out a real energy policy and plan that would remove our dependency on oil and promote alternative energy. That's a movement/protest I could get behind.

Until congress gets a spine or moron* gets his walking papers, we will and are suffering from a death by a thousand cuts.

We have made our future. We are the ones that buy huge houses, drive huge cars, demand millions of plastic made items. It's us, we the people fed by a never ending stream of oil that we gladly gobble down that have caused this. We can bitch and complain about moron* from now until forever, but we knew this was coming years ago and at the end of the day, does the majority of this nation, walk, ride a bike, or take mass transportation home from work? I think we know the answer to that one.

Jimmy Carter warned us and we laughed. Reagen took the solar panels off of the White House and nothing was said in protest. As much as we have the military industrial complex, we as a nation have been playing host to the other 2 ton elephant in the room. The industrial corporate oil giant.

As long as we got our cheap gas we played the game and went right along with the "American Dream". But folks, there never was an American dream. That was bullshit fed to us by gov't sponsored ad agencies to prop up a society based on a finite resource. This is/was a truly vicious cycle of stupidity based upon immediate gratification after years of depression and war. We did without then and didn't want to go back to those days, ever again.

As a result, this societal illusion based on cheap energy was furthered by a never ending supply of cheap goods and a concept of living the way we should because "we are Americans" and by a gov't that made sure, that no matter what happened, we out did the Soviets. This fed into and promoted a mentality of wanting more and more and giving back less and less. Rampant consumerism.

Ever really think about that term "consumer"?

And here we are, our consumer demands can't meet supply and we get pissed???

Life, society and the world in general is changing and until we as Americans wake up from our oil drunken stupor to that fact, nothing, not a thing will change and we will be regulated to the trash bin of history as a country that got greedy on something that would never last. Truly a fools Paradise.

Face it, the American Century was based on oil. Removed oil from the equation and honestly, would we as a nation be where we are today? Would any nation? No.

Oil has provided the means for the world to expand beyond it's limits. Like a sun going red giant, it expands beyond it's nearest planets, until it exhausts it's last remaining fuel, only then to collapse upon itself. A shell of what it once was. Is that our destiny? Or do we as a nation wake up, demand from our leaders a real path out of this cycle into a world that will be different. I consider the American Dream as: a world, a society, that gives back more than we take away.

Now is that time, that is my dream

[jpak]

6. Kick

Dem renewable energy programs = rural red state jobs and rural red state Dem votes.

The best response to GOP Gawd-Guns-N-Gays BS...

[benEzra]

7. Agreed...

but do stay the heck out of my gun safe...only half of gun owners are repubs, don't forget.