Hang Right Politics

Posted by Kathy on June 22nd, 2007 in Stupid Democrat Ideas, Democrats, Energy

According to the Chicago Tribune, democrats finally passed a bill on energy, which as they put it reduces our dependence on foreign oil. Sigh.

So how do democrats reduce dependence on oil? Permit more oil exploration at home? Don’t be silly - democrats cannot connect the dots on the subject. Domestic production will never increase under democrat control. So what is their solution? Forcing higher and higher fuel standards. Sigh.

The Senate late Thursday voted 65-27 to pass the first energy bill since Democrats took control of Congress in January. But it was far from a complete victory.

Resistance to the new auto fuel economy standards threatened passage until the final hours. Democratic leaders held off a vote until shortly before midnight as senators were called back to the Capitol to assure the votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by opponents of the tougher fuel regulations.

The bill finally passed even as Republican senators grumbled that it did virtually nothing to increase production of traditional domestic fuels such as oil and natural gas.

Let the spin begin:

“This bill starts America on a path toward reducing our reliance on oil,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., proclaimed.

The legislation would require ethanol production for motor fuels to grow to at least 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, a sevenfold increase over the amount of ethanol processed last year.

And it calls for boosting auto fuel economy to a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase over current requirements for cars, SUVs, vans and pickup trucks.

The legislation also calls for:

_Price gouging provisions that make it unlawful to charge an “unconscionably excessive” price for oil products, including gasoline. It also gives the federal government new authority to investigate oil industry market manipulation.

_New appliance and lighting efficiency standards and a requirement that the federal government accelerate use of more efficient lighting in public buildings.

_Grants, loan guarantees and other assistance to promote research into fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids, advanced diesel and battery technologies.

The problem is ethanol is not the solution, and it’s inclusion in this bill speaks more to the power of the ethanol lobby and environmentalists, than sound energy policy. Naturally the democrats spin it the other way as if there was no ethanol lobby (which price gouges enormously, don’t look to hear about that.)

Earlier in the day Reid could not hide his displeasure as Republicans blocked one of the Democrats’ top priorities, a $32 billion tax package aimed at boosting renewable fuels, energy efficiency and clean energy programs. The Republicans didn’t like the $29 billion in additional taxes on oil companies that the plan required to pay for the new alternative energy subsidies.

“Big Oil seems to do pretty well here on Capitol Hill,” Reid told reporters, making no effort to hide his sarcasm.

Democrats also failed to get a provision that would have required electric utilities to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity from wind, biomass or other renewables after Republicans refused to allow the measure to come up for a vote.

That is to say, republicans staved off an effort to increase inflation through higher energy costs THAT ARE ALWAYS PASSED ON TO THE CONSUMER. Democrats do not understand economics, and neither do their abettors in the media.

I wonder how those labor unions working in the auto industry feel about all those donations to democrats now?

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who opposed the Senate provision and had fought to instead pass a more auto industry-friendly fuel economy measure, said one reason for his effort’s failure was growing public concern about global warming.

“The public wants action, rightfully so, on global warming,” Levin said in an interview. And he added, the auto industry is “a juicy target.

This is the first of many stupidities that will be laid at the feet of ‘global warming’ - the new cash cow in the democrats bag of tricks.