Energy Policy Act of 2005

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

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Mr. RAHALL. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in opposition to the pending legislation, surprise, because it will do absolutely nothing to lower the price of motor fuel and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

This legislation is antitaxpayer, anticonsumer, and antienvironmental. It is social security for the oil industry. We have before us a bill that squanders what could have been a bold stroke for American energy independence. It could have been visionary, and it could have been daring in developing new energy technologies and fuel sources.

Instead, we have before us a bill which contains a litany of various tax breaks and polluter protections for energy producers who are already experiencing record profits at the expense of the American public.

The bill contains $8 billion in tax breaks, largely for well-heeled oil and gas conglomerates who are already milking our constituents at the pump. In the Resources title alone, CBO says there is nearly a half a billion dollars of direct spending to subsidize the oil and gas industry over the next 10 years. To put it bluntly, if the taxpayer is feeling the pain of an energy crisis, it is coming from the derrick sticking out of his back pocket, and this measure does nothing to ease it.

Even President Bush recently stated, "I will tell you, with $55 oil, we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives." These are President Bush's own words.

But has that stopped the Republican majority from bestowing such largesse on some of their biggest benefactors? Of course not. Because when one pulls the curtain aside on this bill, what we find is a wacky old fellow pulling the manipulating levers, reaching deep into the Treasury and deep into the pockets of ordinary Americans.

This bill, as I said, could have been a bold stroke, but it missed that mark. It ignores coal, America's most abundant energy resource. It pays mere lip service to coal. There is nothing here that would actually encourage an electric utility to install or invest in clean coal technology. There is nothing here that would advance bona fide technologies for coal gasification or liquefaction to run our factories and vehicles.

And, to add insult to injury, the single substantive coal provision in this bill favors Western Federal coal, primarily in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, over all other coals. It would give Federal coal from that region an artificial, competitive advantage to the detriment of coal producers and consumers in other States. Already, this Western coal has infiltrated utility markets traditionally served by Appalachian and Midwestern producers. To now provide these producers of Federal coal with special treatment in the form of relief from competitive bidding and the payments of royalties is unseemly and has no part in what is supposed to be a national energy policy bill.

It is, in effect, a direct assault upon all other coal, including coal from my home State of West Virginia, and it is a direct assault on consumers, jobs, and the economy and the communities which rely on coal from States like West Virginia who are not given special treatment under this provision.

Yet, under the rule governing debate on this bill, I was denied the ability to offer an amendment to strike this provision, an effort that came very close to succeeding when the House last considered this bill. Could it be that because I came so close to knocking it out of this bill on the House Floor of the last Congress I was denied that opportunity this year? Could it be because the Republican leadership fears debate on this provision and will only allow amendments that they can bet the House will fail to pass? All of this, all of it is why every newspaper in my congressional district that has editorialized on this bill has editorialized against this bill.

We are engaging in an exercise of microwave legislating today. The Republican leadership has hauled out the remains of last year's freeze-dried energy bill and are seeking to warm it up for yet another taxpayer-financed feast.

The people of America will not be played for fools. They will not be made to believe that all of our energy problems will go away if we simply grant misplaced and inappropriate tax cuts to energy fat cats, and if we allow polluters to get off the hook and shortchange the health and safety protections of our citizens.

I urge a no vote on the bill.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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