Oil Industry Complains about Gang-of-20 Compromise

Via Red Green and Blue

The former Gang-of-10 compromise, which has since expanded to 16 and then 20 US Senators, proposes to swap limited offshore drilling for an increase in renewable energy support.

The Gang-of-20 bill severely limits offshore drilling to a handful of Southeastern states that must opt in to allow increased drilling, and moves the drilling boundary to 100 miles offshore (from its current 200 miles) “with states given the option to set it at 50 miles.”

The compromise also funds a lot of renewable energy projects, including renewing the renewable energy tax credit.  Hopefully Senate Democrats can get enough support from Republicans to get this thing passed!  It's a win-win situation, because if Republicans block it then they expose that they're only interested in oil drilling.

What types of renewable projects would this fund and for how much money?

Read the article - there's a big long list!

So long as my ears weren't deceiving me in the car yesterday, I heard that this passed in the House. The list of renewable benefits are below:

"The compromise contains a 5-year extension of the renewable energy tax credits, which are key to the growth of the renewable energy industry. The bill would invest $84 billion in conservation and efficiency, which will be fully offset with loophole closers and other revenues. Approximately $30 billion will come from new revenues from the oil and gas industry through such measures as repealing a tax break for oil companies which Democrats have long sought. The bill also funds

• A $20 billion “Apollo Project” like effort to support the goal of transitioning 85% of America’s new motor vehicles to non- petroleum-based fuels within 20 years;
• $7.5 billion for R&D focused on the major technological barriers to alternative fuel vehicles, such as advanced batteries;
• $7.5 billion to help U.S. automakers and parts makers re-tool and re-equip to become the world leader in making alternative fuel vehicles;
• Consumer tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle to incentivize Americans to purchase advanced alternative fuel vehicles (those that run primarily on non-petroleum fuels) and up to $2,500 to retrofit existing vehicles with advanced alternative fuel engines;
• New consumer tax credits of up to $2,500 to purchase highly fuel efficient vehicles, to help Americans reduce their annual gas costs and reduce oil imports;
• Extending and expanding the $2,500 tax credit for hybrid electric vehicles;
• $500 million for R&D into new materials and other innovations to improve vehicle fuel efficiency;
• $2.5 billion in R,D&D on next generation biofuels and infrastructure;
• Tax incentives for the installation of alternative fueling stations, pipelines and other infrastructure;
• Expanding transmission capacity for power from renewable sources;
• New dedicated funding for the weatherization assistance program;
• Provides grants and loan guarantees for the development of coal-to-liquid fuel plants with carbon capture capability. Plants must have lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions below those of the petroleum fuels they are replacing;
• Supports nuclear energy by increasing staff at the NRC, providing workforce training, accelerating depreciation for nuclear plants, and supporting R&D on spent fuel recycling to reduce nuclear waste;
• Provides a CO2 sequestration credit for use in enhanced oil recovery to increase production from existing oil wells while reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Yeah the House and Senate have 2 different bills.  The House bill actually allows for more drilling than the Gang-of-20 compromise.  Now the House bill has moved to the Senate where they'll evaluate the various different bills and try to agree on one.

Well the Democrats blew it.

"Both The Hill and Politico.com have reported that the Gang-0f-20 will not introduce a bipartisan compromise energy bill before the election. This is a huge triumph for McCain and major political blunder by Congressional Democrats.

{...}

had a bill based on the original Gang-of-10 been brought to the Senate floor for a vote, it would have put McCain in an untenable position. There is no simple justification for voting against this compromise for any Republican claiming to be for an “all of the above” energy policy, claiming to be someone who bucks his party to reach across the aisle for the best ideas of both parties."

Moreover, the offshore drilling moratorium is set to expire at the end of the month, so unless Congress gets its act together and somehow comes to an agreement before the 30th, the oil companies will be able to drill wherever the hell they want.

Christ the Democratic Party is great at self-destructing at election time.

Well the congressional Democrats officially utterly failed on offshore drilling and energy.

Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in an month-long battle with the White House and Republicans.

Instead of embracing and pushing the gang-of-10 compromise, the Democrats squabbled and failed to get any legislation whatsoever passed. They could have forced Republicans (including John McCain) to either accept the compromise, limiting offshore drilling and funding renewable energy, or reveal that the only energy source they care about is oil. Instead the offshore drilling moratorium has been lifted completely and no renewable energy legislation was passed. Plus now McCain can continue with his facade of being a friend to the environment.

Abject failure.