WASHINGTON - House Republicans today passed a bill that would transfer hundreds of thousands of square miles of America’s public lands to oil companies, while protecting the $4 billion in subsidies the biggest oil companies receive from taxpayers each year. Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) denounced the bill as yet another large-scale giveaway to oil companies by House Republicans, who have established the most anti-environmental and pro-oil company agenda in the history of Congress.
Republicans blocked the consideration of an amendment by Rep. Markey that would have set new national targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. The House GOP voted down amendments that would preserve health-based standards of the Clean Air Act, fully fund the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and push oil companies to drill for the billions of barrels of oil they have available to drill right now, but are not using.
“Republicans passed a bill that would cede nearly all of America’s public lands to oil companies within just a few short years, but wouldn’t even allow a debate on wind, solar, and a real ‘all of the above’ energy strategy," said Rep. Markey, the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee. “This debate was a sham, this legislation is a scam, and the American people need to know these are the ‘oil above all’ policies that a Mitt Romney administration would put into place.
“This bill is a stealth attack on the Clean Air Act," said Rep. Waxman, the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “It might be great news for big oil, but it means more pollution for the American people."
While the bill will go nowhere in the Senate, and President Obama has promised to veto it even if it should advance, the bill contains a dangerous preview of the policies that would be implemented if Mitt Romney and Republicans retake the White House and Congress.
Among other provisions, the bill would:
--Allow oil companies to nominate where on taxpayer lands they would like to drill, then require the Interior Department to lease at least 25 percent of those lands every year. Within a few short years, nearly all of America’s public lands available to drill could be held by oil companies, which was a recently-stated goal of the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.
--Establish a nonrefundable $5,000 “petroleum poll tax" on any American who wants to protest an oil or gas lease on public lands, which is potentially unconstitutional.
--Tell hunters, fishermen, hikers, ranchers and all Americans that they need to get in line behind oil companies when it comes to using America’s public lands by decreeing that energy development supersedes all other uses of America’s taxpayer-owned land.
--Hold America’s emergency oil reserves hostage to oil companies by saying that new public lands must be turned over to oil companies to use the reserve, even in a time of emergency.
--Repeal the Clean Air Act’s health-based standards for smog.
--Block the EPA from issuing rules to clean up gasoline and refineries.
