Energy bill poses 'leap backwards,' according to Case
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle is ready to support the broad energy bill and will oppose attempts to scuttle it by a filibuster, one of the senator's aides said yesterday.
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The decision casts doubt on whether a bipartisan coalition of opponents can succeed in blocking the bill because of provisions that would legally protect manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has contaminated groundwater in their states and would be banned under the bill.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, said the energy legislation is "a disgrace epitomizing everything that's wrong with our national political process today."
A spokesman for Daschle said the South Dakota senator will vote for ending debate on the bill, overcoming a filibuster, as long as senators are given time to adequately debate the legislation.
Republican supporters hope to finish the bill and send it to President Bush before the end of the week. The House passed the energy legislation Tuesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, said the energy legislation is "a disgrace epitomizing everything that's wrong with our national political process today."
The bill would provide billions of dollars in tax incentives for oil, gas and coal producers and give a boost to corn farmers by requiring a doubling of ethanol use in gasoline.
"It clearly allocates tens of billions of dollars to the benefit of the oil, gas, and nuclear energy industry, which is tens of billions of dollars going into the wrong pockets for the wrong reasons," said Case.
The bill represents "a giant leap backwards to fossil fuel dependency, environmental degradation and monopolization of energy production and delivery," he said.
Case complained that representatives had little time to read the 1,400-page bill before it came up for a vote and said he only received his copy of the measure at 3:30 a.m. It passed 246-180.
Asked about the bill's impact on Hawai'i, Case said Tuesday, "I simply don't know, because I got the bill 13 hours ago. "
"This bill is about one thing and one thing only: rewarding special friends and powerful insider interests with a truly disgusting array of tax breaks and subsidies, immunities from liability and exemptions from troublesome environmental protections, and protections from competition, all at the expense of energy consumers and all citizens today and tomorrow," said Case, who voted against the bill along with fellow Hawai'i Democrat, Rep. Neil Abercrombie.
Case also criticized the process in which the bill was finalized.
He said only a few administration and majority insiders were allowed into the negotiations.
"The whole idea of it was a sham from start to finish," conducted in secrecy, he said. "It is the worst example I've seen yet in the breakdown of democratic principles."
