Energy Politics as Usual

Reuters reports that the US Senate will begin its debate on an energy bill today. It only took the writer one sentence to outline why this bill is so unworthy of an imaginative, innovative people:

The legislation aims to boost long-term domestic oil, natural gas and gasoline production, make the US electric grid more reliable and build more nuclear power plants.

This isn't a plan; it's a cop-out on genuine energy reform and a giveaway to some of the nation's worst polluters. And if that's not bad enough, enter the Exterminator:

A much bigger problem for the Senate is the House bill's measure to protect oil companies from certain lawsuits for making the water-polluting MTBE gasoline additive. House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas insists that US refiners must be shielded from defective-product lawsuits.

MTBE liability measures doomed a previous energy bill in the Senate last year and could do so again, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said.

"If there is no liability (for MTBE makers), there won't be a bill," Reid said. "We feel very strongly about that."

"...US refiners must be shielded from defective-product lawsuits" -- is it just me, or does that sum up the blatant corporate whoring that keeps us from making any real progress on energy development? We can't have these poor refiners taking, you know, responsibility for their actions or anything, can we?

Via Eco-Portal.

Tell your Senators this bill is an insult to the intelligence of most Americans. More of the same is killing us...

Technorati tags: energy, politics, United States, corporate whoring idiots