Abercrombie Statement On Bush Administration Opposition To Comprehensive Energy Bill
Press Release
"In the George W. Bush White House, the right hand frequently doesn't know what the far right hand is doing. The Administration has announced its opposition to The Comprehensive Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, the energy bill passed last night in the House, criticizing the legislation because it "does not allow for revenue-sharing with the States, eliminating a critical incentive for them to permit exploration off their shores."
What is either stunningly disingenuous or just plain dumb is that royalty-sharing with the States was in the legislation, but had to removed because of President Bush. When he reversed the Executive Order issued by his father banning offshore drilling, he did so to put pressure on Congress to do the same. Instead, under the regulations followed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to enforce "pay-as-you-go" budgeting and spending, his action technically opened offshore areas to drilling, despite the Congressional ban. And, according to the CBO, anything Congress did to limit the money that could flow into the U.S. Treasury like limiting the drilling to 25 or 50 miles from the shoreline would cost the federal government money and must be offset. As a result, we were forced to remove language in the energy bill that let States share in the revenue from drilling off their coasts.
President Bush's action to reverse the offshore drilling ban was indeed clever; perhaps a bit too clever.
The Administration also opposed the legislation because we took the Bush tax subsidies for big oil companies to encourage drilling and redirected them to provide incentives for more rapid development of alternative fuels and renewable energy technologies. However, when this White House supports giving tax subsidies to the most profitable businesses in history, it is at least consistent.
We will be working with our Senate colleagues to reach agreement on an energy bill that establishes for the first time a real national energy policy. We will also be waiting for January 20, 2009.
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