A long article that helps clarify what we are fighting. If you read it, give this thread a kick.
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | October 4, 2004
Second of three parts
WASHINGTON -- Robert Congel has grand plans and a heady vision for his upstate New York shopping complex. Billed as the biggest mall in the world, the yet-to-be-built DestiNY USA would be filled with 400 retailers, thousands of hotel rooms, a 65-acre glass-enclosed indoor park, a rock- and ice-climbing wall, and a theater suitable for Broadway shows.
And if its patrons in Congress get their way, the mega-mall would be partially funded through the federal energy bill, which would provide $100 million in public money. A fervent lobbying campaign by Congel paid dividends on Capitol Hill. When members of the House voted last winter to ramp up domestic oil production, they also voted to help Congel build the giant mall through tax-exempt "greenbonds."
The greenbonds initiative -- so named because the developments it funds are supposed to be energy efficient -- was among scores of items stuck into the energy bill by lawmakers meeting behind closed doors. These provisions had no official sponsors and weren't part of the original documents approved by the House and Senate, but were added later by unseen hands as the 816-page bill was crafted in a secret conference.
Intended to lay out an energy policy for the nation for the first time in more than a decade, the energy bill became a cash bonanza for corporate interests in and out of the energy arena. The bill, which is stalled because of a Senate filibuster but which is still one of President Bush's top legislative priorities, features initiatives to encourage production of new and existing energy sources. But it has also become a phonebook-sized symbol of modern Washington lawmaking, in which policy is driven by those who have money, power, and access to a relatively small group of decision-makers.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/04/energy_bill_a_special_interests/