No Solar ITC, No Federal RPS in Energy Bill passed out of US Senate

by Ronald Cloud [courtesy of Blog for America]

ITC - Investment Tax Credit
RPS - Renewable Portfolio Standard

Speaker Pelosi was interviewed on PBS Newshour tonight.
It sounds like US House is going to approve the Senate Bill and present
it to GWB. Indications are that he will sign the bill.

Getting the mileage CAFE standards established in law seems to be
the decisive factor in the Democratic acceptance of this bill and the gutted
renewable energy mandates and incentives AT THIS POINT.

Ronald

Shortcut to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301036.html

Excerpts: [With Bracketed Commentary]
..The measure was approved with strong bipartisan support 86-8 after
Democrats abandoned efforts to impose billions of dollars in new taxes
on the biggest oil companies, unable by one vote to overcome a
Republican filibuster against the new taxes...

...The car companies will have to achieve an industrywide average
35 mile per gallon for cars, small trucks and SUVs over the next 13
years, an increase of 10 mpg over what the entire fleet averages today....

And it would boost use of ethanol to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022,
a nearly sixfold increase, and impose an array of new requirements to
promote efficiency in appliances, lighting and buildings...

[A POLITICALLY GOOD POINT ! Here:]

...While many environmentalists viewed almost certain approval of the
automobile fuel economy increase as a major victory, some were critical
Thursday of the Democrats' inability to push through taxes on major oil
companies, which have been making huge profits in recent years.

"The Senate Democrats should show some backbone," said Brent
Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth. "If Republicans want to
block progress on clean energy and global warming, they should be
forced to mount a real filibuster _ for weeks if necessary."...

[HOWEVER, I think the pending give and take on the overdue federal
budget appropriation bills and funding the Iraq occupation didn't leave the
Democrats any room to let this go on any longer. It would be possible to
slip in a short term extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit somewhere
inside the massive budget bills.]

...Republicans had made it clear they would require the Democrats to
find 60 votes on the oil taxes and the White House had said repeatedly
the $13.5 billion in taxes on the five largest oil companies over 10 years
would assure a veto.

On the 59-40 vote that failed to overcome a GOP filibuster,
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., whose state's economy is dominated by
oil and energy activities, was the only Democrat to break ranks.
Nine Republicans supported the tax measures.

The White House has said the taxes would lead to higher energy costs
and unfairly single out the oil industry for punishment. A Democratic
analysis showed that the $13.5 billion over 10 years amounted to
1.1 percent of the net profits that five largest oil companies would be
expected to earn given today's oil prices.