[NukeNet] Lobbying Needed Now: Schumer: Determine Weather Or Not Big Oil Companies Should Be Broken Up

[Bill Smirnow]

  Dear All,
                 I suggest we ring Schumer's phone
off the hook demanding a Manhattan Project For
Renewables & Breaking Up The Big Oil Companies.
Ditto Hillary Clinton, your Rep & others reading
this in other states should [please] contact their
Senators and Reps. Dingell and Bingaman should
also hear this from us and be told in no uncertain
terms that nuclear power is NOT an acceptable
answer. Only renewables, energy conservation &
efficency are. Everyone can be reached through the
congressional switchboard at: 202-224-3121. Also,
http://www.senate.gov  http://www.house.gov
Please forward this to other lists and interested
parties.


 >  Last spring, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
said if the country is to reduce its addiction to
oil and high >energy prices it needs a "crash
program" to develop more alternative energy
sources, dramatically >increase conservation and
examine "whether or not we should break up the big
oil companies."

   http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111906X.shtml
   Democrats Aim to Repeal Tax Breaks for Big Oil
            By H. Josef Hebert
            The Associated Press

            Saturday 18 November 2006

            Washington - House Democrats are
targeting billions of dollars in oil company tax
breaks for quick repeal next year. A broader
energy proposal that would boost alternative
energy sources and conservation is expected to be
put off until later.

            Hot-button issues such as a tax on the
oil industry's windfall profits or sharp increases
in automobile fuel economy probably will not gain
much ground given the narrow Democratic majorities
in the House and Senate.

            Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
in an outline of priorities over the first 100
hours of the next Congress in January, promises to
begin a move toward greater energy independence
"by rolling back the multibillion dollar subsidies
for Big Oil."

            Yet the energy plan being assembled by
Pelosi's aides for the initial round of
legislation is less ambitious than her
pronouncement might suggest.

            For the most part, the tax benefits
are ones that lawmakers talked of repealing this
year when Congress struggled to respond to the
public outcry over soaring summer fuel prices and
oil companies' huge profits.

            Topping the list for repeal are:

          a.. Tax breaks for refinery expansion
and for geological studies to help oil
exploration.


          b.. A measure passed two years ago
primarily to promote domestic manufacturing. It
allows oil companies to take a tax credit if they
chose to drill in this country instead of going
abroad.
            Democrats say neither tax benefit
should be needed for an industry reaping large
profits at today's high crude oil prices.

            Over 10 years, the production tax
credit saves oil companies $5 billion and the
refinery measure and exploration credit a total of
about $1.4 billion, according to Congressional
Budget Office estimates.

            Other oil tax breaks probably will go
unchallenged. That includes some passed by
Congress only a year ago and others already
targeted for repeal this year.

            For example, House Democrats have no
plans to change a provision that allows oil
companies to avoid billions of dollars in taxes by
the way they calculate inventories. The Senate
this year agreed to a repeal; the effort was
abandoned amid House GOP opposition and an uproar
from other industries that also benefit from the
tax language.

            House Democrats also are shying away
from tampering with more than $1 billion worth of
oil- and gas-related tax breaks, enacted last
year. These breaks largely benefit small companies
or gas utilities rather than the major oil
companies now awash in cash.

            Nevertheless, the House and Senate are
expected to push legislation early to force oil
companies to renegotiate flawed offshore drilling
leases that have allowed the companies to avoid
paying federal royalties. The loss eventually
could cost the government $10 billion, according
to some congressional estimates.

            Other prime targets of House and
Senate Democrats include:

          a.. Alleged price gouging. Proposals to
create a federal price gouging law for gasoline
and other fuels probably will move quickly.


          b.. More incentives and mandates to
expand the use of ethanol and biodiesel as a
substitute for gasoline. Requiring oil companies
to phase in retail pumps that deliver fuel that is
85 percent ethanol.


          c.. Requiring power companies to produce
a percentage of their electricity from renewable
energy sources such as wind and solar power. Such
a measure is a priority of Sen. Jeff Bingaman,
D-N.M., incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee.


          d.. Extending energy efficiency tax
credits approved by Congress last year. Most are
scheduled to expire at the end of next year.


          e.. Expanding a tax break for buyers of
gas-electric hybrid cars and offering more
incentives for automakers to build greater numbers
of the vehicles.
            Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who will
take over as chairman of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, said he plans hearings on
legislation to spur further production and
distribution of ethanol and biodiesel, and promote
conservation.

            But he suggested it will take time to
produce legislation. "The process is a long one.
It takes hearings, it takes fact finding," said
Dingell in a telephone interview.

            On the Senate side, Bingaman probably
will avoid writing a single broad energy bill,
preferring to push through specific legislation.
Among Bingaman's other goals are new incentives to
spur renewable energy development and more tax
breaks for conservation.

            Last spring, Sen. Charles Schumer,
D-N.Y., said if the country is to reduce its
addiction to oil and high energy prices it needs a
"crash program" to develop more alternative energy
sources, dramatically increase conservation and
examine "whether or not we should break up the big
oil companies."

            Next year, Schumer assumes the No. 3
leadership position among Senate Democrats and
will be one of the party's top strategists.

          -------

          Jump to today's Truthout Features:
           Today's Truthout
Features -------------- Democrats Aim to Repeal
Tax Breaks for Big Oil Embittered Insiders Turn
Against Bush Hersh: CIA Analysis Finds Iran Not
Developing Nuclear Weapons -------------- t r u t
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