Tax Break Bill May Open Gulf Drilling - AP

[Eugene]

Tax Break Bill May Open Gulf Drilling


Thursday December 7, 2006 6:31 PM

By H. JOSEF HEBERT

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - An agreement on a tax package Thursday moved Congress
closer to opening a vast area in the Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles south of Florida's
panhandle, to oil and gas drilling.

Both the House and Senate attached the drilling legislation to a package of
popular tax measures expected to win approval by week's end as Republicans
wrap up the 109th Congress and turn control over to Democrats next year.

The drilling legislation also revamps revenue sharing from Gulf oil and gas
production, sending hundreds of millions of dollars to four Gulf states for
restoring coastal wetlands and repairing hurricane damage.

Environmentalists opposed the measure, calling it a gift to large oil companies.
Drilling supporters - including a cross-section of the business community - argued
it would provide access to badly needed energy resources, especially natural gas,
and perhaps drive down prices.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6265083,00.html

[phantom power]

1. I've been wondering for a while...

if there isn't some way to institutionally prevent this sort of shit, which now appears to be the rule instead of the exception. The particular shit I'm thinking about is completely unrelated legislation "attached" to must-pass bills. It's just one of those practices that enables a lot of terrible and/or corrupt legislation to get passed.

[denverbill]

2. And what, exactly, are the 'tax breaks' that are driving this to passage?

At least if this involved middle/lower class tax breaks or fixing the AMT, I could see how it might get some support. But the article never even mentions that outside of the headline.

[Dextrous Scribe]

3. Natural Gas Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

The poor via the HUD Section 8 program get subsidized housing assuming that they have a qualifying low income. In the case of many low income seniors we as taxpayers are not only subsidizing their housing but also pay for the fuel used to heat their apartment units and heat their water.

It should be noted that ecological damage caused by oil drilling equipment in the Gulf during Katrina was not noted. Yes there are ecological concerns but these should be weighed against the good that lower natural gas prices can bring for middle and low income families. I side with the families.

I think that those who complain about high fuel costs yet would choose to limit our ability to search for and develop sources of fuel are unnecessarily short-sighted.

The Scribe

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. A year of the nation's Section 8 costs are roughly equivalent to

a week of Iraq War costs.

If we had our priorities straight, this wouldn't be an issue.

How about having the oil/natural gas companies pay a fair amount for their leases instead of continually jacking up the prices while socking away record profits? What they'd pay would cover those section 8 costs, easily.

What "balance" would you accept that turns the Gulf into dead zone?

This isn't about families, and never has been. It's about extraction industry profits.

ON EDIT:

And Welcome to DU, where debate is always welcome.

[JohnWxy]

5. taxes, funding for fed programs and off-shore drilliing.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003465447_congress07.html



Congress edges toward tax and trade deal
By Jim Abrams

The Associated Press

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said the goal was to bring the bill to the floor today. "I'm trying to make it happen."

But Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., said it was typical that Republicans were rushing a huge bill to the floor that lawmakers would not have time to read or amend. "This is a sad but fitting way to end the 109th Congress," he said.

Congress is trying to deal with two major issues:

—It must approve the continued funding of federal programs at fiscal 2006 levels because this Congress failed, with the exception of defense and homeland security bills, to agree on any annual spending bills for the 2007 fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

The GOP plan is to stretch current funding amounts until Feb. 15, leaving it for the new Democratic leaders to deal with tough spending and deficit issues.

~~
~~

The bill also encompasses a stalled plan to open more than 8 million acres along the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and expand an abandoned coal mine reclamation program, estimated to cost up to $5 billion over 10 years.