"WASHINGTON - Declaring a new direction in energy policy, the House on Saturday approved $16 billion in taxes on oil companies, while providing billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy and conservation efforts.

Republican opponents said the legislation ignored the need to produce more domestic oil, natural gas and coal. One GOP lawmaker bemoaned "the pure venom ... against the oil and gas industry."

(*this line made me laugh)

The House passed the tax provisions by a vote of 221-189. Earlier it had approved, 241-172, a companion energy package aimed at boosting energy efficiency and expanding use of biofuels, wind power and other renewable energy sources.

"We are turning to the future," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi..."

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070805/...ZOHF5mLvyyBhIF

ultimately they will do whatever is profitable for them I suppose. even with a loss of some profit, if they still stand to make billions, they'll still invest in refineries.

well. it's passed and attached to some June senate legislation, it says. however, the article says Bush might veto. of course. from the article:

"Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said the bill was "a political exercise" to promote "pet projects, ... pet ideas." He predicted it "isn't going anywhere" because President Bush will veto it if it gets to his desk.

The White House indicated President Bush might veto the bill if he gets it saying it makes "no serious attempts to increase our energy security or address high energy costs" and would harm domestic oil and gas production.

The bill would repeal for oil companies a tax breaks given in 2004 to help domestic manufacturers compete against foreign companies, and another tax break pertaining to income from foreign oil production. Critics of the two tax provisions called them loopholes that the industry had taken advantage of.

The House-passed bill also includes an array of loan guarantees, federal grants and tax breaks for alternative energy programs. They include building biomass factories, research into making ethanol from wood chips and prairie grasses and producing better batteries for hybrid gas-electric automobiles.

The legislation would end a tax break for buying large SUVs, known as the "Hummer tax loophole" because it allows people who buy some of the most expensive SUVs to write off much of the cost."

why does the oil industry in a time of unprecedented and astronomical profit need government welfare? can you justify that?

If this passes, you can forget any new refineries. The push for ethenol and biofuels is already making them less likely. Why sink billions and decades into them?

__________________
Abortion is not healthy for children and other living things.

I don't see a push from government for ethanol or biofuels. I see it from private citizens, but no one with real financial backing. Why? The government is owned by the oil companies and as long as the governments derive a significant amount of their revenue from taxes on oil and gas they have no incentive to sink money into ethanol or biofuels.

I agree with TT, basically, F them punks!!!! I am sooo sick of these big oil companies my head hurts.
Basically, they have tortured us for the last 30 years. They have helped in the killing of millions of people. The oil companies have divided our country, they have , oh they have done enough. I hate the oil companies. Every gallon we buy helps the enemy.
America should ditch the gas, and make every available acre to grow corn,Castor bean, solar power on every home, wind power, water power. I cannot believe we have been held hostage by these huge companies. These companies, Exxon, Wal Marts, AT@T's of the world have made our laws. The newspapers, the Nightly news is just a bunch of North Korean rubbish.
I want my America Back.

That story's headline should read, "House Approves 20 Billion Dollars in New Taxes for Consumers Who Can Barely Afford Fuel Now". Truth in politics should be a law....not that it would do much good, as politicians have proven quite capable in skirting most laws.

You need to put down the kool-aid, and take a step back. Growing corn for ethanol is not a solution to oil. It takes almost as much energy to produce ethanol, as you get from the ethanol...about 1.3 to 1, (compared to fossil fuels that can have ratios of up to 20 to 1). We don't have enough land to grow that much corn, ethanol is only marginally viable now because of government subsidies, (approx $1.38 per gallon), and ADM is the main beneficiary....pulling in nearly 6 billion dollars per year to fund this nonsense.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...al_boondoggles

Lets talk about solar power. A 5 to 6 kw grid tie system will run you about 55,000 dollars. That's hardware only, not installation, which can add another 5 to 10 thousand dollars to the cost. That type of system can replace most electrical power you pull off the grid daily. When you're away from home during the day, that power is fed back to the grid, essentially running your meter backwards....you sell that power to the electric company. Sounds great...and assuming that system saves you 200 dollars a month, it will take you approx 25 years just to recoup the cost. Which also happens to be the design life of your system. See the problems yet?

Outside of the few boutique envirofrauds out there, like Algore, not many people have 60 to 65 thousand dollars lying around to spend on crap like that.

I have heard this before. Yet, can we believe it? How much did it cost us for the Valdez oil spill? 240,000 barrels of oil lost in the sea and along the coast. 18 years later, animals still showing signs of damage. Over 4 billion in fines.
How many other ships have had spills? How many wars for oil? How much damage has oil done to our world? Our forest? Its mind boggling.

Oil is a wonderful resource, however, as the world grows, billions of cars,trucks,planes, will soon fill the earth. Our earth cannot handle the fumes, and the damage. Not to mention, oil is not unlimited. As the world grows, so will the price.

We need to desperately get away from gas and oil. We have the technology. Matter of fact a man in California is the first to make a car that runs on I think water. Its time to make the change.

I have read your response on solar, again, this figure of $60,000 or more is pretty high, unless you live in a huge house. You would be very surprised how much these little guys produce electricity. Not to mention, the Federal Government pays so much to wards the purchase and installation of alternative fuels. And, if everyone either purchased solar or wind power, the price would drop. Also, we would be using a resource that is free, unlimited.

Think of the massive increase in jobs, and manufacturing if Congress made it mandatory that all homes, businesses be fitted with solar or wind? Think of the boom!!!

What boom.

In case you hadn't noticed manufacturing jobs are being sent overseas at an alarming rate we produce next to nothing in this country anymore. where companies don't have to pay minimum wage to have some flunkie fold tab A and insert in slot A. Chinese people will do it for far less. For instance, take television sets for instance (an American prduct right?) Wrong, Not one of the major TV brands are manufactured in the US anymore. All the companies like Panasonic, Magnavox, etc are all manufactured overseas. We are the parts house to the world that's all.

Yes congress can mandate a lot of things but do you really think more laws are a good thing.

Just what we need more government intrusion into our daily lives. Government is not the answer, it is the problem.

__________________


Don't blame me. I voted for the other guy.


http://www.myspace.com/johnsullyspage

Facts generally do not care whether we believe in them or not. 20% of our corn production now goes to produce ethanol, which is capable of reducing our gasoline consumption by 3.6%, (this has resulted in a doubling of corn prices....and it will get worse). We do not have enough arable land in this country to replace petroleum with ethanol. You can check these figures yourself. Search google, get out a calculator, do the math. Of the many different bio fuels that are available, or in development, ethanol is the worst. It takes too much energy to produce it, and it's ascendance as the bio fuel of choice was politically driven.

We have many different ways we can go with this, ethanol is simply the worst possible choice we could have made. It is has only 2/3 the energy content of gasoline, requires nearly an equal amount of ethanol to produce it, (or worse, fossil fuel), cannot be transported through existing pipelines, is driving up the cost of basic foods in this, and other countries, and only exists as a bio fuel in this country because of government subsidies.

No, 60,000 dollars or more, to purchase and install a minimal system that generates five to six kilowatts. The average home comes with 80/220 service....17.6 kw. We usually don't use that much at once...but it's there, and a lot of people opt for more. Larger homes can easily come with, even require, 200/220 service. A 6kw solar gts system is 1/3 the capacity you get from the power company. I searched earlier, I suggest you do the same. The cost, without installation, is about 55,000 dollars. If you're lucky, and live in California, and happen to catch the system while it actually has money in it, the state will reimburse you for part of that. Not all of it, and I've never seen that particular program funded more than once...and it lasted all of a week or two.


The capacity, (in our example), 6kw, is how much these 'little guys' produce. You want more, you add more panels, assuming you have room. Picking a standard PV panel, the Sanyo HIP-190BA3, it generates 190 watts, and occupies 12.75 square feet of space. For a 6kw system, you will need 32 of these, and at 1635 dollars per copy, (per piece price...package deals come a bit cheaper I assume), it gets expensive, (and requires 414 square feet of space).

Again, this resource is not 'free'. It's gonna cost you 60,000 dollars or more. Look it up, if you doubt me. The feds are not going to hand you 60 thousand dollars, either. This money is coming largely out of your pocket. It is expensive, time consuming, and energy intensive to produce these cells. Demand won't change that. Unless, or until we have cheaper ways of producing efficient, and durable solar cells, prices will remain high.

Sigh. And where will the 60,000 dollars for each and every home, not to mention businesses, come from, exactly?