Is This Any Way To Fight An Addiction?
Even as the administration and GOP leaders in Congress are on the defensive about record-high energy prices, record profits at major oil companies, and big cuts in domestic spending, the federal government may be on the verge of a massive giveaway to oil and gas companies. Projections in the new Department of Interior budget plan anticipate that energy companies will pump $65 billion of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.
Federal officials say the windfall is dictated by laws and regulations dating back to 1996, when energy prices were comparatively low and Congress wanted to encourage drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. But what seemed like modest incentives a decade ago have mushroomed to levels that even fervent supporters of the oil and gas industry find alarming. The new Interior Department projections anticipate that energy companies will receive $7 billion in royalty relief between now and 2011, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel over the next five years. And these windfall profits may be just the beginning. Is this how we confront our addiction to oil?
Federal officials say the windfall is dictated by laws and regulations dating back to 1996, when energy prices were comparatively low and Congress wanted to encourage drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. But what seemed like modest incentives a decade ago have mushroomed to levels that even fervent supporters of the oil and gas industry find alarming. The new Interior Department projections anticipate that energy companies will receive $7 billion in royalty relief between now and 2011, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel over the next five years. And these windfall profits may be just the beginning. Is this how we confront our addiction to oil?
1 Comments:
There's a fairly hilarious article in today's Washington Post about Bush's energy road show to promote the initiatives from his State of the Union address.
Apparently, the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which works on developing the technologies the president is promoting, was today's stop on the tour. But just 2 weeks ago, 32 workers at the lab were laid off due to budget cuts. Then, over the weekend and just in time for Bush's speech, they were reinstated. You can read the full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022100156.html.
It does make it hard to believe that the folks at the White House are really serious about doing what needs to be done.
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