WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday passed a Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy that strips $16 billion in tax incentives away from Big Oil and puts it toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. The 786-page bill, passed in a rare Saturday vote, was a top priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and is an amalgam of bills assembled by about a dozen of the chamber’s committees in recent months. Republicans called it a ‘no-energy bill’ because it lacks new drilling incentives, and they derided the new emphasis on renewables as ‘green pork.’ The White House threatened to veto the bill on concerns that it could boost energy prices. House Republican leader John Boehner said the bill ‘cuts the lifeblood of our economy off at the knees by increasing taxes to pay for green pork projects,’ referring to billions of dollars of ‘energy conservation bonds’ that would finance renewable projects. The bill, the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act and the related tax title would spur a massive redistribution of federal incentives to wind, solar, geothermal and away from producing energy from oil, natural gas […]
Sunday, August 5th, 2007
U.S. House Shifts $16 Billion Away from Oil and Toward Renewable Energy
Author: CHRIS BALTIMORE
Source: Reuters
Publication Date: Sun Aug 5, 2007 2:29 AM BST
Link: U.S. House Shifts $16 Billion Away from Oil and Toward Renewable Energy
Source: Reuters
Publication Date: Sun Aug 5, 2007 2:29 AM BST
Link: U.S. House Shifts $16 Billion Away from Oil and Toward Renewable Energy
Stephan: Not suprisingly the administration, serving its Big Oil masters, proposes to under cut this painfully late move to support alternatives. It will be revealing to see what happens when this goes into conference and attempts are made to reconcile the House bill with that of the Senate.