After months of being at the center of debating, squabbling, maneuvering, cajoling, posturing, strutting, dissembling and threatening, the 26-year-old congressional moratorium on most offshore oil drilling has left the national political stage with barely a whisper. For now. Expect no other major energy proposals to be enacted.
To nobody’s surprise, the Democrats decided Tuesday they would not seek to renew the ban, which expires September 30. The renewal has been attached to the annual appropriations bill since it first came into being in 1982. But Mister Bush had warned that he would veto the bill this year if it included the ban. Facing a watershed election just six weeks away, defectors in their own ranks, polls showing most Americans want more drilling, and the possibility they would be blamed by voters for shutting down the government in the midst of an economic crisis, congressional Democrats ultimately surrendered to the inevitable.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey said: "At least temporarily, the moratorium is lifted. This next election will decide what our drilling policy is going to be." But House Republican Leader John Boehner chortled that the Democratic move was a "capitulation." He reiterated the standard Republican humbuggery that new offshore drilling (which won't produce an extra drop of oil for five to 10 years) "is a big victory for working families, seniors and small businesses struggling with record gasoline prices."
Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund lamented:
"Despite the passage last week of a House energy bill that includes expanded drilling, Big Oil wasn't satisfied, urging that even limited restrictions on offshore drilling be lifted. While this can be expected of a self-interested industry raking in record profits at the expense of American taxpayers, we expected more forethought from a Congress that claims it is concerned with moving America towards energy independence. ...
"Where will it end? When will Congress stop caving in to Big Oil and giving away more of our lands and waters to a dirty, outdated industry? |
Optimists argue that no leases will be auctioned in the next three-and-a-half months, and that a President Obama and a Congress with a greater margin of Democrats can renew the ban in whole or part in 2009. Skeptics – count me among them – say that chances are the ban, or most of it, is gone for good. As matters stand, as of October 1, with the exception of part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida that is off-limits until 2022, the federally controlled continental shelf from 3 to 200 miles off-shore will be available for leasing to all comers. States have jurisdiction out to 3 miles.
Despite a flurry of intense activity since June, it also became clear Tuesday that any comprehensive energy bill is dead in the water until the 111th Congress takes the oath of office in 2009. Last week’s energy bill passed by the House was DOA in the Senate. The so-called Gang of 20’s bipartisan energy bill, in the works since late July, never got introduced. A bill being drafted by Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and a Republican alternative, were squeezed out by the attention being paid to the giant bailout proposal.
Hurrah! What a relief. This summer’s rush to remedy 27 years of bad energy policy in just a few weeks had generated a mish-mash of contradictory proposals that couldn’t possibly be fully discussed or vetted. Better to wait, as I've said from the get-go.
Some energy incentives not part of a comprehensive bill are also probably headed for oblivion.
Included as part of a $150 billion tax-cut extension package passed almost unanimously in the Senate were $18 billion in incentives for renewable energy. The legislation would offer up to $7500 in credits for taxpayers who buy plug-in electric cars. It would provide a one-year extension of the "production tax credit" for wind energy and a two-year extension of the PTC for other energy sources. It would extend until 2016 the 30 percent investment tax credit for homeowners who install solar and wind energy equipment. Eco-advocates and renewable energy manufacturers consider a reliable, long-term PTC as a crucial incentive to ramping up solar and wind installations, and some environmental groups had argued for compromising on offshore drilling if it was going to be the only way to extend the incentives.
But the Senate legislation also would allow incentives for developing coal-to-liquids, tar sands and oil shale, energy sources that a broad array of eco-advocates object to. The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and League for Conservation Voters wrote to Senators last week urging them to "strip the bill of incentives for dirty fossil fuels." Many lawmakers in the House, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also oppose those particular incentives. In the Senate, however, excluding them could defeat the bill.
More daunting still is that House conservatives, including Blue Dog Dems, object to the overall package because it’s not completely paid for. According to CongressDaily, North Dakota Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said: "A partially paid-for package of energy and business tax extenders is a no-go in the House." He said a smaller, paid-for package of one-year extensions is the House goal. On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said any such changes the House makes would probably kill the bill in the Senate.
Thus, all congressional jabber about balanced approaches aside, it's likely the only major legislative change on the energy front this year will be the termination of the offshore drilling ban. For Big Oil, the Republicans and their Blue Dog allies, mission accomplished.