Bush
Energy Bill Would Reward Oil Industry Without Lowering Prices
When asked about
our insecure energy supply and the high price of gasoline, President Bush has said, "If people had acted on my energy bill
when I submitted it three years ago, we would be in a much better situation today."
But the energy
bill, which remains stuck in Congress, is actually a multibillion dollar giveaway to the oil, coal and nuclear industries
-- and it will actually make gasoline even more expensive, while weakening public health and environmental protections.
The House of Representatives
is slated to vote on the energy bill today. But a recent study by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical
arm of the Energy Department, reports that H.R. 6, the House bill, will fail to reduce either prices or oil imports. And
it will cost taxpayers at least $31 billion.
According to the
EIA, gasoline prices will increase by 6.45 percent by 2010. If the energy bill becomes law, however, EIA says gas prices will
increase by 6.6 percent by 2010. Over the long term, by 2025, the energy bill would result in a price jump of 10.3 percent,
while under business as usual the increase would be only 8.2 percent.
The energy bill
would also fail to reduce oil imports. According to EIA, oil imports are projected to increase 24.7 percent by 2010 under
current policies. If the energy bill passes, oil imports will increase only slightly less, 23.8 percent. Over the long term,
the energy bill would only modestly affect imports. If the bill passes and is signed into law, imports will increase 82.9
percent by 2025, compared to an increase of 84.8 percent without the energy bill.
Finally, the energy
bill would have a devastating effect on our environment. Most notoriously, the bill would open the spectacular Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and production. Drilling in the Refuge would have no affect on today's gas prices, because
oil from the Refuge will take 10 years to reach the market. Moreover, oil from the Refuge would provide the nation at best
with only a 180-day supply a miniscule amount in the big picture. [1]
President Bush
may say that his energy bill will reduce prices; but the numbers generated by his own Energy Department tell a different story.
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SOURCES:
[1] NRDC fact sheet.
