From today's LA Times:
"Leading voices in the Senate are considering a new tax on gasoline as part of an effort to win Republican and oil industry support for the energy and climate bill now idling in Congress.
The tax, which according to early estimates would be in the range of 15 cents a gallon, was conceived with the input of several oil companies, including Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips, and is being championed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
It is shaping up as a critical but controversial piece in the efforts by Graham, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to write a climate bill that moderate Republicans could support. Along those lines, the bill will also include an expansion of offshore oil drilling and major new incentives for nuclear power plant construction.
Environmental groups have long advocated gasoline taxes to reduce fossil fuel consumption; the oil industry has spent heavily in recent years to fight taxes, which it says would harm consumers.
I think we've been rather harsh on both Republicans and the petroleum industry. I look around and see all the wonderful plastic products I use...wait, what's this?
In this case, though, several oil companies like the tax because it figures to cost them far less than other proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including provisions in the climate bill the House passed last year.
It's all about...filthy lucre? Again!? Next thing, they'll be telling me there's no Santa Claus.
The lowdown, from Lou Grinzo:
"Fifteen cents a gallon? Seriously? That’s not putting a price on carbon; if anything,
it’s giving the oil business a gigantic shortcut around any meaningful price we put on carbon in other sectors. A person who drives 12,000 miles a year in a 25 MPG car would pay a whopping $1.38 more per week for gasoline. I doubt the average American consumer knows to within $1.38 how much money is in his/her pockets/purse/wallet at any given time. I sure couldn’t, and I’ve been accused of being pathologically thrifty by more people than I care to think about."
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