CONGRESSMAN SALAZAR: TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR OIL COMPANIES ARE ABSURD

Salazar Decries Bill to Provide Fiscal Relief for Oil Industry

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John T. Salazar (CO-3) today decried the passage of a House Energy Bill (H.R. 3893) that will provide fiscal relief to oil companies but will not reduce gas prices at the pump. With oil companies making record profits and gas prices at record highs, Salazar said fiscal relief should be focused on the American taxpayers.

“Taxpayer subsidies for oil companies are absurd” said Salazar. “Fiscal relief needs to be focused on taxpayers – our responsibility is to help the people, not oil companies. I’m sure the oil industry welcomes these benefits, but our job in Congress isn’t to make life easier for oil executives. We’re supposed to help protect the American pocketbook, not give the money away to companies.”

Proponents of the bill cite a need to increase the number of oil refineries in the United States. However, several investigations and government reports have proven that oil companies are not interested in building refineries in the United States because of profit considerations. This bill provides incentives to the companies in the form of taxpayer subsidies, such as the establishment of a fund to pay oil companies for the cost of lawsuits and delays due to compliance with state and federal laws. The bill also forces the government to sell oil at a discount to the refinery, thereby increasing oil companies already record profit margins.

The bill also undermines local and state official’s efforts to pursue price gouging investigations, denying Attorney Generals the right to bring lawsuits on behalf of their states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is also given exclusive jurisdiction over any civil cases involving refineries, pre-empting state and local agencies authority to review refinery and pipeline construction.

“Bringing bio-diesel and ethanol plants to the Western Slope and rural Colorado, that’s the type of production we should be promoting, not additional refineries. Making agriculture a real part of our energy supply lessens our dependence on fossil fuel and provides jobs for rural Americans.”

Concluded Salazar: “This new Energy Bill is an absolute sham, an attempt to use the tragedy of the hurricanes to further personal, political agendas.”