HOUSE ENERGY BILL PUTS MONEY BACK IN TAXPAYERS' POCKET, INVESTS IN NEW ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AND SOURCES
Washington, DC - Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior Democratic member of both the House Resources and Energy and Commerce Committees, spoke in strong support on the House floor of the “Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation” (CLEAN Act). Rep. Markey is the primary author of a number of these provisions to roll back royalty relief for oil and gas companies, collect unpaid royalties on faulty 98-99 leases, and create and alternative energy fund. Markey also reacted to the new Interior Department Inspector General report on the Mineral Management Service’s handling of royalty-free leases. The CLEAN Act is being debated on the floor right now and should be passed later this afternoon.
The CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 repeals the unnecessary and wasteful tax breaks and royalty-free drilling rights for big oil and gas companies, and instead creates a Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reserve that would invest in clean, renewable energy sources and clean alternative fuels like ethanol, as well as energy efficiency and conservation.
“At a time when oil companies are making record profits and American consumers are being tipped upside down at the pump we should not be giving massive subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil. Today, with H.R. 6, we are going to repeal the most egregious of those unnecessary incentives and tax breaks to Big Oil,” Markey said. “It is time for the oil companies to stop playing Uncle Sam for Uncle Sucker.”
The Government Accountability Office has estimated taxpayer losses at $10 billion from leases issued in the late ’90’s that do not suspend so-called royalty relief. This bill would bar oil companies from purchasing new leases unless they had either renegotiated their existing faulty leases or agreed to pay a fee on the production of oil and gas from those leases.
Markey continued, “I have heard some on the other side of the aisle argue that if we were to pass the royalty relief fixes included in H.R. 6 and take back from big oil the $10 billion or more that rightfully belongs to the American people, it will violate the contracts that they are holding. That it will turn our country into Bolivia or Russia. But let me be clear – we have spoken to the top constitutional lawyers in the country and they all agree that we are on the firmest of constitutional ground.”
The American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service has said that including a condition in new oil and gas leases to exclude oil companies that have not renegotiated their faulty leases would not abrogate existing contracts or constitute a takings.
According to the Interior Department’s Inspector General’s report that came out today, senior officials at the Minerals Management Service have known about these faulty leases for nearly three years, yet sat idly by and did absolutely nothing while big oil companies failed to pay nearly $1 billion in royalties that rightfully belonged to the American people.
On the new Interior I.G. report Markey stated, “If the allegations in the IG’s report are true, top Bush Administration officials have aided and abetted one of the greatest heists in history. We should not now leave those same officials in charge of getting oil companies to “voluntarily” renegotiate those same leases.
“We will begin to move in a new, clean direction on energy and put an end to the free ride that big oil has had under the Bush Administration and this bill is a beginning. It is the beginning of a change in direction, away from subsidizing an industry that doesn’t need extra financial incentives, and towards the technologies that do need a helping hand,” Markey concluded.
The Clean Act also contains provisions derived from two amendments Markey offered during the 2005 energy conference to suspend all of the new royalty relief proposed for the oil and gas companies.
These provisions would repeal:
-Royalty relief for the oil companies to drill from deep wells in shallow water
-An expansion of deep water royalty relief
-Royalty relief for Alaska offshore areas
-Royalty relief for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
The Select Committee was active during the 110th and 111th Congresses. This is an archived version of the website, to ensure that the public has ongoing access to the Select Committee record. This website, including external links, will not be updated after Jan. 3rd, 2010.
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