2008 Energy Bill: House Version & Initial Reaction

The House passed their initial version of the 2008 energy bill.  Two major focal points of this bill are the following: it would allow drilling 50 to 100 miles off-shore and it would repeal tax breaks (corporate welfare) for oil corporations.  Republicans have been pining for the former and screaming about the latter for months.  Americans generally support increased drilling as long as its coupled with renewable energy research funding increases.  A clear majority of Americans support rescinding the fossil fuel industry’s welfare.  Americans can pretty easily make the connection between $4.00 gas and news of record profits that corporations like Exxon enjoy every quarter.  They’re tired of that being the status quo.  So I say let Republicans continue to scream about stopping the corporate welfare.  They’ll continue to look like ideologues for it.

Republicans are also whining about no “litigation reform”.  But here’s the reality: if the off-shore areas end up going up for lease, which would require Senate passage of the same bill (unlikely this year) and no veto by Bush (not a guarantee in the off-chance Congress actually passes something), it’s not like they’ll drill on those new areas.  Why?  Because here’s the dirty secret Republicans want to keep out of the spotlight: fuel corporations currently hold leases on 68 million acres of land and they’re not drilling on them right now.  More than that, those corporations have no plans to begin drilling any time soon.  They’re enjoying the high fuel prices too much.  Increasing the supply would bring that price down.  That situation was true before demand for fuel started falling in the face of $4.00 gas and is even more true now.  With demand decreasing, they have absolutely no incentive to put more fuel into the market.  So no environmental lawsuits will be issued because no corporation will drill.

CAFE Standards and the Bush Administration

The Bush administration is currently crowing to the wind that the evil libruls have been busy keeping oil and gas prices artificially high. If only the libruls would allow offshore drilling today, oil prices would start to fall tomorrow. It’s laughable on its face that such an argument could be made without even mild probing by the media. But, the corporate media has dutifully carried the administration’s water and reported such outlandish claims as though they were rock solid truth. The administration’s own actions lay this claim to waste. But just as dutifully, the corporate media hasn’t reported on them.

Climate Progress has the nitty gritty details. I’m going to share some summary notes presented there and discuss them. Basically, the EPA was supposed to construct a draft proposal to achieve a fleet average of 35 mpg in cars and light trucks by 2018. In December of last year, recommendations from the administrations’ science and legal experts were discarded. Then in a March 27, 2008 letter, the EPA was instead preparing, apparently at the direction of the White House, a plan for no-action.

Here are some details of what the EPA was planning to do, before being sidelined by the Bushies [emphasis mine]:

• EPA proposed that regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles be implemented in order to achieve the equivalent of 35 mpg car and light truck fleet average by 2018 (with the car fleet averaging 38.4 mpg by 2018 and the truck fleet averaging 31 mpg by 2017).

• These proposed standards were estimated to yield annual net societal benefits of almost $55 billion by 2040. It bears emphasis that these benefits were calculated using Energy Information’s (EIA’s) 2007 mid-range projected gasoline prices of $2.03/gallon in 2017 to $2.22/gallon in 2030. (These projections were the most recent data available at the time the materials were prepared.) EPA’s analysis concluded that the benefits would be much higher using more realistic gasoline prices because higher gasoline price projections would increase the consumer savings associated with driving more efficient vehicles. …

• When EPA used the EIA 2007 high gasoline price projections of $2.75 in 2017 to $3.20 in 2030 to calculate standards, it found that the car fleet could achieve a standard of 43.3 mpg by 2018 and light trucks could achieve a standard of 30.6 mpg by 2017.

• EPA developed its proposed standards in close consultation with NHTSA, found they were compatible with the fuel economy standards set by NHTSA, and concluded that those gains could be achieved without undo adverse impacts on the auto industry, its workers or consumers.

Un-freaking-believable. The administration has purposefully prevented the American public from achieving relief from gas prices. The Bush administration has therefore levied a stealth tax on all of us. A tax none of us should have to pay because it is going directly to the most profitable corporations in human history instead of being invested in the commons.  And where is the howling from the “small-government” right-wing about your taxes being increased?  They’re silent, which demonstrates that as long as Republicans hang taxes around our necks, they’re okay with them.

I wonder what the benefits would be if today’s gas prices were plugged in. The Bush administration: is screwing the American people by billions and billions and…

CAFE & Other Topic Roundup

Think Progress has a new feature: the Wonk Room. One item caught my attention: Grover Norquist said recently that 2,000 more people will die because of the recent change in CAFE standards. He was referring to a study done in 1993 that tried to establish a relation between vehicle weight and safety. Of course, the reality of crashes is more complex than Norquist was making it out to be. The real problem with our standards is they’re a fleet average and they’re too low. Cars sold in America can’t be sold in China because the Chinese have a more stringent fuel standard and it’s the minimum allowed. So US car manufacturers’ complaints that regulations might strangle them here will actually work to minimize overseas sales in the future. Way to look ahead.

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The rover Spirit on Mars has been given a reprieve: previously announced budget cuts may not affect the operations. The two rovers on Mars have revolutionized our understanding of the Red Planet. Their original 90 day expected life span have turned into four years of successful operations. All the billions being wasted in support of an occupation have so many other positive uses. Stay tuned.

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Found this: climate savers smart computing. Among other things, it includes what you can do to minimize the power your computer uses. After all, 50% of the power drawn is simply wasted.

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Deep Trunk had a write-up about Bob Schaffer’s non-involvement in the House while he was a Representative. Does Colorado want to replace do-nothing Allard with another guaranteed do-nothing Republican?

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Conservative chatter-boxes have been busy making wild exaggerations regarding Gov. Ritter’s New Energy Economy, saying that changing how decisions will be made will cause energy companies to leave the state in search of easier deals (prey). I never gave their statements much credence: the resources currently under the ground are far too large for them to simply pack up and go elsewhere. Turns out, the energy industry is not running away from Colorado.

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More disinformation about climate change in the corporate media. I’ll have more on this op-ed in the future.