Big Oil emerges largely unscathed from Democratic assault

[rodeodance]

Big Oil emerges largely unscathed from Democratic assault
Posted on December 24th, 2007
By Ben Geman

http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=761

Greenwire: When Democrats took over Congress this year, they vowed loudly and often that big oil companies’ days of tax breaks and subsidies were numbered.

And their timing in the early going seemed perfect. Last Feb. 1, Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a record 2006 profit of $39.5 billion — slapping an exclamation point on House approval of a measure two weeks earlier that would boost industry taxes to pay for renewable energy programs.

But that measure never became law, and now the industry has emerged with nary a scratch from several Democratic efforts to revise oil-friendly tax policies and repeal royalty incentives. The most recent failure came this month when Democrats — facing GOP-led filibusters and a veto threat — jettisoned oil provisions from a big year-end energy bill.

Why did the Democrats’ assaults flop? “You know the answer to that,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who heads the House Democratic caucus. “You have a guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who came in defending Big Oil and is determined to leave defending Big Oil.” The White House had threatened to veto energy bills that raised industry taxes......................

[Democrats_win]

1. Interesting. I say tax them retroactively to..10 million BC. That'll teach'em: don't tread on US.

Then go after the golden parachutes.

On edit: 60 million BC that's when the dinosaurs died.

[ladjf]

2. Big Oil will be dealt with at a later time and it won't be the

Democrats that bring them down. It will from massive good logic of converting to alternate energy sources. (Fire away all you Fossil Fuel Shills.)