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Old 05-03-2008, 10:17 AM   #64
interesteddad
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA
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Quote:
All the proposals will take years to implement, and they will also be fighting the very powerful oil lobbyists in Washington. These group have been able to convince congress that they need subsidies to be profitable despite record profits last year. It just does not make sense at all.
Of course, the proposals take years to implement. The energy problem is a long-term challenge that only has long-term solutions.

As for oil-company interests, that's why you want to look at the RECORD of each candidate. These people have experence in public life. They have introduced legislation. They have cast votes.

For example, look at who voted for massive giveaways to the oil companies (tax breaks, below market fees for drilling on public parkland, waving environmental regulations for oil companies, etc.) in the 2005 Cheney Energy Bill.

Clinton: Nay
McCain: Nay
Obama: Yea

Why did Obama vote for it? This passage in a WaPost article on the bill might explain:

Quote:
The bill's biggest winner was probably the nuclear industry, which received billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks covering almost every facet of operations. There were subsidies for research into new reactor designs, "fusion energy," small-particle accelerators and reprocessing nuclear waste, which would reverse current U.S. policy. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Tex.) even inserted a $250,000 provision for research into using radiation to refine oil.

The bill also included $2 billion for "risk insurance" in case new nuclear plants run into construction and licensing delays. And nuclear utilities will be eligible for taxpayer-backed loan guarantees of as much as 80 percent the cost of their plants.
Exelon had been Obama's largest corporate benefactor. Exelon is the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the United States.

Energy Bill Raises Fears About Pollution, Fraud
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