Obama Introduces Bill Requiring Oil Companies to Invest 1% of Quarterly Profits in Renewable Fuels
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington Contact: Robert Gibbs or Tommy Vietor, (202) 228-5511
Date: May 23, 2006
Obama Introduces Bill Requiring Oil Companies to Invest 1% of Quarterly Profits in Renewable Fuels
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today introduced legislation that would require oil companies making in excess of $1 billion in profits during the first quarter of 2006 to invest no less than 1% of those profits into installing E85 or other alternative fuel pumps at gas stations across the United States. E85 is a cleaner-burning renewable fuel made from 85% ethanol and 15% conventional gasoline.
"For too long, American taxpayers have been forced to pay billions in subsidies to the very same record-profiting oil companies who now charge them record gas prices at the pump," said Obama. "It's time for the oil companies to give something back to America by investing just 1% of their record profits into the cheaper, cleaner renewable fuels like E85 that can finally free us from our dependence on Middle East oil."
The top five U.S. oil companies garnered $28.2 billion in profits in just the first quarter of 2006, a 50% increase from 2004. Meanwhile, gas prices are 31% higher on average today than this time last year.
More than 5 million flexible-fuel vehicles - vehicles that can run on both E85 and regular gasoline - are currently on the road and U.S. automakers have committed to producing hundreds of thousands more. Unfortunately, only around 700 of the more 165,000 gas stations on the road sell E85. Ford Motor Co. Vice President Sue Cischke said last week that "We need about 30 times the...E85 ethanol pumps available today."
It is estimated that Obama's bill would create more than 7,000 new E85 pumps in the country.
Services stations that install alternative fuel pumps would be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $30,000 to offset the cost of installation. This tax credit was championed by Senator Obama and became law as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.