Democrats take new swipe at Big Oil
Democrats in the US Senate unveiled a new energy package that would revoke $17
billion in tax breaks extended to big oil companies like ExxonMobil and slap
a 25% windfall profits tax on companies that do not invest in new energy
sources.
The Consumer-First Energy Act - assembled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
and other key Democrats - would also stop the Energy Department from filling
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until crude oil prices average $75 a barrel
or less for 90 days.
The Democrats' energy bill seeks to lay the blame for record-high gasoline
prices over $3.60 a gallon on the Bush administration, big oil companies
like ExxonMobil, and Opec.
In a bill summary, Democrats point out that gasoline prices have more than
doubled since President George W. Bush took office in 2001, while "Big
Oil" companies made over $500 billion in profits over the same period.
"The Bush administration has led us down the path of the most
significant energy crisis we have had in decades, if not in all time. Big
Oil is making money hand over fist while doing little to invest in
alternative fuels yet Bush Republicans want to keep handing them huge tax
breaks," Reid told Reuters.
Republicans in the Senate in turn unveiled their own plan, which calls for new
US oil production in offshore areas as well as Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.
The bill seeks to revive a plan already passed by both the Senate and the
House of Representatives that would allow the federal government to sue Opec
for price manipulation.
It also seeks to reign in speculation in oil markets, which Senate Democrats
see as a prime mover behind crude oil prices which hit a record high of
$123.79 a barrel today.
The bill would prevent companies that trade US oil futures from routing
transactions through offshore markets to evade position limits and requires
the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to boost margin requirements for
all oil futures transactions.
The bill would have to pass the Senate and be approved by the US House of
Representatives and White House before becoming law, said a Reuters report.
07 May 2008 18:29 GMT
| last updated:
07 May 2008 19:20 GMT
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