Appointment of Conferees on H.R. 6, Energy Policy Act of 2005

APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 6, ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 13, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Capps motion. The House Energy Bill contains a so-called ``Fuels Safe Harbor'' that hands over get-out-of-court-free cars to the big oil companies responsible for polluting our communities' drinking water supplies with MTBE. The MTBE safe harbor is really a pirates cove for corporate polluters.

If enacted, it will let corporate polluters off the hook for water contamination and other damages to the environment and public health resulting from MTBE contamination.

A few months ago, President Bush said, ``I will tell you, with $55 oil, we do not need to give incentives to oil and gas companies to explore, there are plenty of incentives.''

Well, the President is right. Oil prices are now up to $60 a barrel, but the Republican energy bill would nonetheless hand billions of dollars worth of tax and regulatory subsidies over to wealthy oil companies. The MTBE liability waiver is only the tip of the vast iceberg of subsidies in this bill. $8 billion in tax subsidies and incentives for energy companies in the energy bill; $3 billion for the oil and gas industry; billions more in the Senate bill for the oil and gas industry.

There is something called royalty relief for the oil industry, which basically suspends requirements for oil companies to pay the Government for drilling on public land. There is a $2 billion subsidy for ultradeep water drilling R&D, and they also get a special exemption from the Clean Water Act.

With oil prices hovering at $60 a barrel, they do not need these breaks. Exxon reported $25 billion worth of profits last year; Conoco, $8 billion; royal Dutch Shell, $18 billion; BP, $16 billion; Chevron-Texaco, $13 billion. They do not need any incentives from the taxpayer, they are already in the pockets of the very same people as consumers, tipping them upside down.

And just think about it. The oil companies are making more money than they can ever spend, and Congress, in this bill, is going to pass a bill totally immunizing MTBE producers from any legal liability for producing an inherently defective product.

If there is an industry that can pay for this problem, it is the industry that has made more profits in the last year than any industry in the history of the world. We are going to do this despite scientific studies which have shown that MTBE causes cancer in laboratory animals.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge mistake, the House ``safe harbor'' from legal liability will shift the burden of cleaning up MTBE contamination from the companies back to the local community. So again, the consumer will be paying high gasoline prices, high home heating oil prices, they will be paying out of their tax dollars to give subsidies to the oil companies, and then they will have to go into their pockets again to clean up the mess which is left over.

Vote yes for the Capps motion to instruct the conferees.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov