To much talk -- not enough drilling -- let's get busy!!!
WASHINGTON --- The last time Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson tried to find middle ground in an emotional policy battle before Congress, they quickly abandoned a bipartisan immigration package after getting pilloried from the right.
Now the Republicans are in the thick of a debate over oil drilling, and they're again fending off criticism from the likes of Rush Limbaugh over a compromise that would raise taxes on oil companies while paving the way for new drilling off the nation's coasts.
The issue could come to a head this week as energy takes center stage on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Chambliss and Mr. Isakson are standing firm behind their proposal, which started with backing from a "Gang of 10" and now has 20 Senate sponsors. But as the package gains bipartisan support, it also is drawing complaints from Republicans that it undercuts GOP momentum on the year's most high-profile political issue.
The senators have taken heat from congressional colleagues, including from other Georgia Republicans. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta has said the senators are engaged in "procedural pleasantries" while Rep. Tom Price of Roswell contended their approach "doesn't make any sense to me."
Mr. Chambliss and Mr. Isakson dismiss the criticism, arguing that voters want Congress to set aside differences and agree on something that will make a difference -- even if it requires trade-offs.
"Usually if the extremes are raising Cain, it means you're doing something right," said Mr. Chambliss, who spearheaded the compromise along with Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat. "We think if anything is going to get 60 votes, it's going to be our proposal."
The plan would allow drilling 50 miles off the coasts of Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, and the Gulf coast of Florida. It would end tax breaks for the oil and gas industry to generate around $30 billion in revenue, with the money used to offset a massive investment in alternative energy.
Comments
To much talk -- not enough drilling -- let's get busy!!!
ROFL, even if they did drill, perhaps they should consider a new location for those refineries in case another hurricane developed and hit hard again. This way, even in hurricane season, people won't panic for gas like they do now.
Raise taxes on the oil companies???????? What a joke!!!!! Corporations don't "pay" taxes, they collect taxes! Raising the tax on oil companies will only result in higher prices across the board, because any tax increase will be passed on to you and I at the pump. It will also increase costs for the freight industry, which means higher prices on everything at the register. Economics 101......a tax increase on any industry is always paid for by the consumer. In short, these yahoos seem to think that you and I aren't paying enough for gas and oil. The oil companies aren't the only ones who saw a windfall profit over these price spikes.......the government collected record breaking revenues from you and I via the oil companies, and now it seems they want more. Wake up folks!! Call these guys and tell them, thanks but no thanks!!!! We want drilling, but Washington is getting to big of a piece of the pie already, they don't need more.
Gang of 10 TRAITORS, the $84 BILLION WINDFALL TAX on oil will sink our economy but it's what Saxby's Lobbyist son Bo wants, more subsidies for corn based ETHANOL. John McCain says Country 1st.. Saxby & Johnny say LOBBYIST 1st, Country When Ever.. Term Limits Now, Term Limits Here, Country FIRST.
I can just smell the bacon in this one. Pork Barrell and Taxed to death before it can start!
Every time there's a "Gang of..." it involves a group of capitulating Repubs selling out the country. It's ten years past time to drill. All of the silly reasons not to drill have been shown to be ridiculous.
"Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share" Increase the base tax on oil companies from 22.5% to 25%. If oil goes over 50 dollars a barrel increase the tax 0.2% per dollar. If oil falls below 40 dollars a barrel oil companies still have to pay 10% of gross price. This is what Palin passed in Alaska. What a reformer.
The assumption is that the oil that is pumped from our coasts will make its way to the States. As Ms. Thomas regularly points out, we have a capitalist market. Therefore, the oil comapnies are free to sell their product to those wiling to pay the most. And as we know, the oil companies are profit driven. There is no assurances that the oil will become the gas in your car tanks.
Justus4, Would you go fishing in a pond that there are no fish even in you had permission?
digmick, are there any assurances it won't? What's the solution? Evidently Congress thinks its do absolutely nothing.
Perhaps, conservation is one alternative. Often I'll be walking through a parking lot and I'll notice someone sitting in a running car (many times an SUV). Upon my return from the store, they'll still be sitting there with the car running. You can't pump enough oil for people these people.
Do you not realize that pumping now won't get you anything for at least ten years? But you all still buy into this pump everywhere now. What are you going to do in the meantime? The only answer is to conserve and seek out alternative fuel. And taxing oil companies is not going to cause the prices to go higher, it will just cut into their multi-BILLION dollar profits. Oh poor oil companies....there is NO WAY they should have a tax break now anyway. Do we get a tax break?? NO. Let the corporations pay the bill. We are paying high prices anyway because we are being gauged, now let the oil companies share the pain.
digmick..you simplified the problem for any with any common sense.CONSERVE !!! Drive smaller more ecomonic vehicles....do what they have been doing in Europe for YEARS!!!!!
Justusfdummies, when are you going to take your own advice and THINK for a change? The oil companies hire geologists that specialize in locating oil deposits and determine if it would be profitable to drill. Obvioulsy, the land they currently hold leases on won't yield enough oil to make it profitable to drill. Those same geologists have identified huge depostis off our coasts, in the shale of the west and ANWR, but the DIMs have blocked drilling in these areas for at least two decades thanks to the econuts that support them.
Our corporations are the higheszt taxed in the industrialized world. Yeah, take the tax incentives away from the oil companies and see if they choose to drill off shore or any place else when it is no longer profitable due to the increased taxes. Republicans have proven that less taxes means a more production and healthier economy, while taxes do exactly the opposite. The DIMs hand their ecowackos have done a great job in demonizing the oil companies that have provided our gasoline daily (not to mention al the other by products from oil-check the interior of your car next time and see how much plastic it has made from oil by products as only one example). They have also successfully lied about taking 10 years to drill and get the oil we know is there.
Gosh justus4, did you get a new dictionary? I suppose you would like nothing more than to see the controversy regarding oil wells in the US hit yet another stalemate. Well, times have changed, haven't they? Whle I am not for destroying the Alaskan Tundra, which is an extremely important ecosystem (much like the rainforests), there are methods to drill for oil without causing harm to that ecosystem. Furthermore, why are we allowing China to drill for oil off our coastline, yet no one in the US is doing so? Sounds rather stupid and self-defeating to me. I support drilling for oil, but I also believe that any mining method used must also support the fragile ecosystem and that can be done without added costs.
Jack are you supporting Saxby's $84 BILLION WIND FALL TAX on OIL?
It would appear that drilling is NOT the issue. What we need is refineries that aren't closed down yearly by hurricanes! It appears we as americans are really showing our ignorance when it comes to energy. Just remember even if you found a place with a quadrillion barrels of oil, you can only refine what we have capacity for. By the way if we want to improve the situation, make it a national crisis and exclude EPA, Interior and Justice Department laws from adding 30 years to the time needed to build refineries!
Jack, the laissez faire concept is working so remarkably well in the Finance area. And the economy is currently in such sparkling shape. Some times a little direction is needed to assure that society benefits, and not just the bottomline.
posted by noway "And taxing oil companies is not going to cause the prices to go higher, it will just cut into their multi-BILLION dollar profits. Oh poor oil companies....there is NO WAY they should have a tax break now anyway." WRONG WRONG WRONG.....Taxing any company, oil or otherwise will cause the price to go higher, because neither "big oil" or any other company is going to allow a tax increase to reduce it's profit margin. Any increase in cost for them will be passed on to the consumer. This is simple economic fact. When the "sin tax" goes up on tobacco products, supposedly to punish the "evil tobacco companies", who pays the increase? THE CONSUMER!!!! A tax increase on anything will ALWAYS be paid for by the consumer....ALWAYS! GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, WE, the consumer and citizen, PAY ALL TAXES. Any tax increase on anything is always paid for by you and I. Do you honestly think the oil companies will just take the loss? If your company sold widgets and there was a 10% increase in cost for whatever reason, be it a tax increase, or increase in material costs, would you just take the hit and watch you stocks tumble? Think man, think.
Solutions: Build more inland refineries with pipelines to seaports so that weather does not effect supply, create a national energy policy that controls supply and refining, increase gasification of coal, increase sugar cane production for ethanol production (corn is not efficient), increase fuel mileage standards for new vehicles by 50% within the next five years (10% per year), increase the number of CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles and refill stations, increase production of plugin hybrids, and legislate energy independance by 2014.
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