Despite rising gas prices, the House passed a bill last Thursday which opponents say will not bring down prices, and instead will “further inflate energy companies? soaring profits,” according to the Washington Post.Instead of concentrating on finding alternative, SUSTAINABLE sources of energy, the bill allows for drilling in the beautiful Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and would also grant funding for research into oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which is estimated to cost approximately $2 billon. In one of the very few instances in which I agree with President Bush, he called for more funding to go to researching alternative energy methods.
However, the House bill provides for “far more tax breaks to the oil and natural gas industry and less to alternative energy and efficiency than President Bush had proposed,” the Washington Post reports.
The bill is similar to legislation that was passed in 2003 at a House-Senate conference committee but later died in the Senate. Hopefully, the Senate will have the same sense again, and recognize that the bill will do nothing to lower gas prices and only provide a mere six months worth of oil from ANWR.
I agree that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign sources, and even more so that we should find sustainable methods of providing energy.
We should instead put money towards building more wind farms to provide wind power or building other plants for providing renewable energy. Even though this would still not solve the transportation problem, it would greatly reduce pollution because much less coal would be used to create electricity.
With so many problems facing the world?s energy supply, I would think that the House would at least vote to raise gas mileage standards, but unfortunately, the House crushed a stipulation in the bill that would have required increased mileage standards, as well as other conservation measures.
Aside from running out of oil in the future due to production not meeting the world?s demands, people in cities may not be able to go outside without having an asthma attack due to so much pollution caused mainly from the chemicals from automobile exhaust.
On top of that, the tax break for buying a Hybrid car was also cut, according to www.bankrate.com. People who bought new Hybrid cars last year can still get a return of up to $2,000 on their 2004 taxes, as well as anyone who buys one this year. But in 2006, the deduction drops to $500, and it will disappear in 2007. What is the logic in this?
Furthermore, drivers of some SUVs and other large vehicles that meet certain weight requirements and are used for business at least half the time receive a tax credit. These rules do not provide much if any incentive for consumers to care more about gas mileage than the number of cup holders a vehicle has when shopping for a new car.
The House also argued over a measure in the bill that provides legal protections for the use of MTBE, an additive to gasoline which makes emissions less polluted but contaminates groundwater. Many of the producers of MTBE include large oil companies that are benefiting once again. Although MTBE is a government-certified additive necessary for meeting federal clean air standards, the companies that are producing the chemical should be forced to clean up and improve their sites, especially if it is contaminating water for surrounding towns. Large oil companies have more than enough money to do this, especially with reports that they are benefiting from the rising gas prices, according to the Washington Post.
Big companies have benefited enough from the Bush Administration, and our environment is suffering. The surrounding wildlife and beauty of the ANWR will be all but ruined, and we are heading in no clear direction for discovering and implementing sustainable energy sources. I encourage people to stop worrying about the petty things in life like Louis Vuitton bags, new rims to pimp your ride,or another pack of cigarettes. Instead, take some time out to really think about the impacts that your daily life has on the world, and will continue to have on the generations to come.
We need to write letters to our legislators to encourage them to protect the environment and not big business. We also need to vote for people who care about the environment and will protect it when bills come up for voting. It is not difficult to write a letter to your representatives. Simply go to www.house.gov and click on the link “write your representative.” To write to your Senators, click on “find your senators” at www.senate.gov.