FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR
MORE INFORMATION:
July
29, 2005 Kate
Madigan, PIRGIM, 517-664-2600
ENERGY BILL KEEPS AMERICA SPEEDING DOWN THE WRONG ROAD
Lansing, MI—The day after ExxonMobil posted record-breaking profits, the
U.S. Congress has passed an energy bill
that rewards Exxon and other big oil companies
with $4 billion
in new subsidies.
“As Americans dig deeper into their pockets to pay their utility
bills and fill
up their gas tanks, Senators Levin and Stabenow voted for a bill
that keeps the oil and utility
companies in the driver’s seat,” said Kate Madigan, PIRGIM
Environmental Advocate. “As gasoline
prices careen out of control, the bill
keeps America
speeding down the wrong road toward more oil
consumption, more drilling,
and more pollution.”
Instead of adopting the Senate passed renewable
energy standard to increase clean renewable
energy generation, the bill
forces American taxpayers to subsidize the construction of six new nuclear
plants and more than a dozen coal
plants.
Instead of requiring reductions in global
warming pollution,
the bill
provides more than $13.1 billion
in new tax breaks for the major sources of this pollution,
the oil, coal and gas industry.
The bill
also paves the way for future drilling
off currently protected coastlines
and preempts states rights in siting dangerous
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities
and transmission lines.
“In this bill,
the big winners are Big Oil and the coal
and nuclear industries, while
American consumers and our environment pay the price,” continued Madigan.
The one bright spot in this bill
is that it makes permanent the ban on Great Lakes drilling.
A temporary ban on drilling
was passed in 2001, and was set to expire in 2007. An amendment by Michigan
Congressman Bart Stupak bans permits for oil
and gas drilling
in or under the Great Lakes, and was added to the energy
bill despite attempts
by Michigan’s own
Congressman Mike Rogers to block permanent
protections from drilling.
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PIRGIM is a non-profit, non-partisan public
interest advocacy group in Michigan.
For up to date analysis
of the energy bill:http://newenergyfuture.com/newenergy.asp?id2=16790&id3=energy&
Kate Madigan
PIRGIM Environmental Advocate
119 Pere
Marquette Drive, Suite 3B
Lansing, MI 48912
517-664-2600
www.pirgim.org