A new energy bill up for vote in the Senate today is opposed by
many nationwide environmental coalitions, including the California
Public Interest Research Group at UCLA.
The bill would make sweeping changes to U.S. energy policy,
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.
CALPIRG UCLA aimed to make students aware of the seriousness of
the new energy policy, which it says would cause extensive
pollution and pass cleanup costs onto taxpayers.
“We’re going to be paying the bills later on as
taxpayers. And students aren’t even aware of this
bill,” said Aliya Haq, campus organizer for CALPIRG.
The group has been handing out flyers and organizing call-in
days to encourage students to call California Senators Barbara
Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to express their opposition to the
energy bill and support a filibuster in the Senate today.
As of Thursday afternoon, the support for the filibuster was
short one vote of the necessary 41 votes, said David Sandretti,
spokesperson for Senator Barbara Boxer who is supposed to lead the
proposed filibuster.
In a White House statement, President Bush supported the bill,
saying that reliable and affordable energy is critical to economic,
national and homeland security.
Supporters of the bill also said tax incentives proposed in the
bill for energy companies would spur the United States’
energy independence and create jobs.
The energy bill was passed last Tuesday in the House by a margin
of 246 to 180. The Republican bill was drafted as a response to the
2000-2001 California energy crisis and this summer’s
blackouts on the East Coast.
But organizations, including CALPIRG UCLA, deemed the bill a
“disaster.” According to a Nov. 19 press release by
CALPIRG UCLA, the bill completely ignores the threat of global
warming and shifts billions of dollars of cleanup costs from
polluters to local taxpayers.
Georgina Wakefield, CALPIRG UCLA project coordinator, said the
bill would nullify environmental lawsuits and would not hold
companies responsible for cleaning up after themselves.
“It lets them off the hook for polluting the ground water
with MTBE, a probable carcinogen that could cause respiratory
diseases,” she said.
Boxer and Feinstein agree.
“(Feinstein) thinks the bill is a giant giveaway to
special interests, MTBE, oil, gas and nuclear industries of this
country,” said Scott Gerber, spokesperson for Feinstein.
The tax breaks for the energy sectors would cost $25.7 billion
over the next decade.
With reports from Bruin wire services.