Sunday, June 03, 2007

Not Like They'd Even Try To Make Sense

House members endorsed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge tonight as they considered a wide-ranging energy measure that seeks to spur domestic energy production and provides tax incentives to oil and power companies.

Opponents of the auto mileage standard proposal said it could harm the economy by forcing automakers to cut production of popular sport utility vehicles and increase the risk of car crash injuries in the smaller cars that would meet the standards.

"Bringing smaller cars in results in more deaths on the highway," said Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, the state that is home to much of the auto industry.

Okay, listen carefully...that's called, shh, enabling. Pet the heads of those SUV drivers. Don't make the culprits pay for gas guzzling. Displace animals. It's the American Way!

The bill grants oil and gas companies tax breaks to encourage production from marginal wells and those in deep offshore waters, allocates millions of dollars for the development of new coal technology, eliminates a tax on diesel fuel for trains and barges and allows utilities to more quickly write off the cost of new transmission systems.

Corporate welfare pisses me off.