Dear Representative,
Taxpayers for Common Sense Action (TCS Action), a non-partisan budget watchdog group, strongly opposes H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This legislation is rife with large taxpayer-funded subsidies to mature energy industries. We urge you to support two amendments – the Grijalva and Udall amendments – to eliminate some of H.R. 6’s subsidies. We also urge you to oppose the Abercrombie amendment and other amendments to add subsidies. But at the end of the day, no amount of tweaking can fix this fundamentally flawed bill and we urge you to oppose final passage.
The $89 billion energy bill is overflowing with government handouts, tax breaks, and royalty holidays for the energy industry. These acts of government intervention will not solve America’s current energy crunch; instead, they will distort price signals and undermine natural market forces while picking the pockets of federal taxpayers.
Here are a few of the reasons why Taxpayers for Common Sense opposes H.R. 6:
• Breaks the bank with billions in tax breaks. At a time of record oil profits, the energy bill provides tax breaks to oil and gas producers that will cost the U.S. Treasury $3.275 billion over ten years. (Title XIII)
• Wastes $1.8 billion on the notorious Clean Coal Power Initiative. Clean Coal has been cited time and again by the GAO for mishandling taxpayer money. The energy bill rewards Clean Coal’s record of shoddy performance by giving the program another $1.8 billion. (Sec. 401)
• Creates a massive slush fund for coastal energy states. The bill siphons off billions of federal revenues from Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) royalties into a new fund that pays out money to coastal energy states. The fund is allocated a maximum of $50 million for 2006-2015, but after that it balloons to 25% of all OCS royalties collected by the government – billions of dollars each year. The directed spending for this fund is authorized in perpetuity. (Sec. 2053)
• Establishes a $2-billion slush fund for impractical oil and gas research. The bill creates a special fund for ultra-deepwater oil and natural gas research, circumventing the appropriations process. Many energy companies already engage in this type of drilling, so the ultra-deepwater fund will merely distort natural market forces while wasting taxpayer dollars on research on duplicative R&D efforts. (Sec. 976)
• Hands out $1.3 billion in “welfare” for the development of a nuclear Advanced Reactor Cogeneration Project. Billed as a way to advance the hydrogen economy, this taxpayer-funded power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory is little more than a massive giveaway for the nuclear industry. (Sec. 651)
• Extends the 48-year-old Price-Anderson Act for another 20 years. Price-Anderson requires the federal government to bear the vast majority of the costs of a nuclear reactor accident, exposing the U.S. government to massive liabilities that should be borne by the nuclear industry. (Sec. 602)
• Bails out MTBE producers with billions in transition assistance. Hundreds of communities nationwide have methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contaminated groundwater. The energy bill shields MTBE producers from lawsuits, shifting the clean-up burden on communities and the federal government. It also gives them $2 billion to produce other fuel additives. (Sec. 1503)
Support the Grijalva and Udall amendments
We urge you to demonstrate your commitment to fiscal responsibility by supporting the amendment by Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) to strike Section 631, and the amendment by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) to strike Section 2005. These amendments will stop government-funded boondoggles in their tracks and will help pop the ballooning costs of the energy bill.
Section 631 authorizes $30 million in federal spending to aid the uranium industry’s efforts to develop in situ leaching mining technology. This unnecessary act of corporate welfare subsidizes a mature industry that has existed in the United States for more than half a century, and does not need the government to hold its hand any longer. The U.S. already has an ample supply of uranium, and does not need to spend precious taxpayer dollars to scour for new sources.
Section 2005 mandates the Secretary of the Interior to suspend royalties for deep water oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. The provision requires the Secretary to suspend royalties for at least 42 million barrels of oil equivalent in the five years following the energy bill’s passage. At current oil prices, this break would cost the U.S. government hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties– royalties that pay for access to the public’s resource.
Oppose the Abercrombie Amendment
We urge you to oppose the amendment by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) to subsidize a three-year demonstration program for the production of ethanol from cane sugar in Hawaii. The Abercrombie amendment represents yet another effort to pick favorites among energy sources by subsidizing companies and industries with cozy ties to Congress. The market, not Congress, should determine which products are used for the production of ethanol. And this amendment, which forks over hard-earned taxpayer dollars to the sugar industry, will only add to the government’s already massive deficits, and foist more of the nation’s debt burden on future generations.
Oppose the Energy Bill
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a bloated, wasteful piece of legislation that will add to the nation’s debt load without providing meaningful solutions to American families. At a time of mounting deficits, we can ill afford to waste precious taxpayer dollars on legislation that does little to advance the energy debate in our country. We urge you to oppose final passage of H.R. 6.
Sincerely,
Jill Lancelot
President / Co-Founder
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