Energy Policy Act of 2005

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - April 20, 2005)

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Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Chairman, some folks will get a lot of mileage out of this bill, but it will not be the hard-working Americans who have to pay more and more at the gas pump as a direct result of the policies of this Bush administration.

When the same collection of fossil fuel dinosaurs and tax loophole lobbyists come here and order Congress to "fill 'er up," with special favors, they seldom go away on "empty."

National security demands a balanced energy policy that encourages more new energy technology and renewable alternatives. But in this bill, security is sacrificed at the altar of whichever lobbyist had the biggest limousine.

Our families' health depends on clean air and water, but this collection of tax breaks, loopholes, handouts and waivers ensures only continued healthy profits for some of the worst polluters in the world. And this bill is not just about more smoke in the air, it is about more smoke and mirrors.

Take, for example, the synthetic fuel provision that I tried unsuccessfully to strike in the Committee on Ways and Means; it is really about tax dodging through synthetic accounting. Unscrupulous companies get what some estimate to be up to $4 billion a year by spraying starch on coal or pine tar on coal. This does not add to the energy capability of the coal. It does not cause the coal to burn in a less polluting manner. Its sole purpose is to generate significant tax dodging. That is why Enron was about to embark on this gimmick that so many companies have abused, and which this Committee on Ways and Means refuses to end.

This energy bill is not just about over-reliance on fossil fuels. It is about fossilized ideals. It is about a lost opportunity for America to be the world's leader in energy technology.

With our security at stake, when so much of the world's oil is located in areas as inflammable above ground as the fuel they hold underground, with our families' health dependent on not letting the quality of our air and our water deteriorate even further than it has under this Administration, this energy bill is the latest example of spending today, while the future will be billed in dollars, safety and health.

That bill will be due and paid by our children and our grandchildren, like my new little Ella.

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