The Smoking Tailpipe: Corrupt Republicans in Congress Preserve the SUV Tax

[lovedems]

http://www.theangryliberal.com/comoftheday.htm



Yesterday the republican-controlled House of Representatives passed Dick Cheney's energy bill, the one he worked on in secret with Enron executives in the Spring of 2001. To nobody's surprise, the bill looks exactly like what it is: A collection of giveaways and tax breaks for the bill's authors in the energy industry. And why wouldn't it? If Dick Cheney invited you to a secret meeting at the White House and said, "Hey, thanks for bankrolling that little moron and me in the last election. By the way, we're putting together a national energy policy. Wanna write it?" wouldn't you stick in a bunch of stuff to line your pockets? Of course, you aren't going to get this treatment from Cheney, but you will get to enjoy this steaming pile of dog poop legislation by paying interest on the increased national debt, breathing dirtier air, and perhaps dying of cancer. Isn't it fun to participate in the political process?

Republicans got off to a flying start by lying about the cost of the bill. Reported by its republican authors as costing $23.5 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has already corrected that figure to $31 billion. Then there were the tax breaks for the oil, coal, and electricity industries, purportedly designed to trick these industries into doing their jobs.

[Virgil]

1. MTBE gift is worth $30 billion

You can tell the media sucks because it is a big no-no to even mention MTBE on the air or in print. This legislation will wipe out what could easily be $30 billion to clean up this oxygenator that was a hazardous waste before they were allowed to burn in gasoline. Not only that, we know that grain alcohol needs to replace this nasty hazardous waste but they let them sell it with impunity until 2015. MTBE can be up to 11 percent in some formulas and 3 parts per billion is bad news. It is the ideal terrorist weapon as a 40 gallon tank dumped on the side of the road not only can but would ruin groundwater for human consumption. It does not decay in the ground and they really do not know how to clean it up once there. That 40 gallons will take a billion gallons of water to dilute and you are still drinking hazardous waste in questionable quantities. The government probably would have the right to ask the land owner to clean it up if they apply the same rules as they do to trash.

It all sucks and look at the media silence on the whole thing.

[lovedems]

2. I live in Illinois

and all the farmers are pushing Durbin to vote yes on the energy bill because of the increase in ethanol. It is all over the front page of the paper that he is voting against it. I think it totally sucks that farmers (who obviously benefit from this bill) would want to gain the benefits at the cost of the environment and health issues. That doesn't make them any better than the greedy corporate ceo's. They can get rich while others get sick. I hope Durbin sticks to his guns and votes against this ridiculous "energy bill"