FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 17, 2008
CONTACT:
Brian Kennedy (202) 621-2951
Washington, D.C. – Last night, the House of Representatives passed a new “energy” bill. This continued a seemingly endless debate over proposals dubbed as energy solutions, though most produce little if any of the energy their titles seem to promise. Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), issued the following statement:
“For months now, energy prices have been draining the budgets of American families while Congress just keeps talking and talking. Instead of crafting legislation that removes government barriers to increased domestic energy production, policymakers have accomplished nothing. America needs more American crude oil, but Washington just keeps peddling snake oil.”
“The beneficiary of this critical failure is OPEC. The leading energy proposals in Washington will lead to higher prices, additional tax burdens for American families, and even greater dependence on imports from unstable foreign regimes. None of these measures will grow the size of American energy supplies, but they will surely grow the size of government bureaucracy.”
The proposal passed by the House yesterday:
- Bans access to the largest and most accessible offshore energy reserves, and only allows oil and gas exploration in areas that are expensive to access and contain relatively little resources.
- Fails to open new, energy rich areas for exploration and development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
- Perpetuates—indeed legislates—the myth that oil companies sit on expensive oil leases instead of developing them.
- Opens the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to exploration but not the nearby ANWR.
- Provides half-measures to allow exploration of oil shale reserves (our largest hydrocarbon resource) by increasing roadblocks to the experimentation necessary move economic production ahead.
- Increases oil prices through increased taxes on oil companies while lavishing subsidies and tax breaks on expensive, inefficient energy sources.
Click here for the latest version of the bill.
Click here for IER’s Analysis of the bill.
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit public foundation that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. Founded in 1989, IER is funded entirely by tax deductible contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. No financial support is sought or accepted from government (taxpayers).
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www.InstituteforEnergyResearch.org
