Think you're paying a lot at the pump? Republicans know how to get you in other ways, too.
You're paying far, far more than that. Bush signed a corporate welfare bill that benefits big energy by repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act and allows for massive, unregulated consolidation and enormous tax breaks to the already handout-heavy industry.
To add insult to injury, the bill also tacks on this bonus:
A provision meant to curtail U.S. oil demand by one million barrels a year by 2025 was struck down, as well as provisions for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling and protecting companies from lawsuits pertaining to gasoline additive MTBE and its contamination of drinking water supplies in less than 40 states.
The oil and gas industries get $2.7 billion in tax breaks and $500 million over the next 10 years for research into drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is special interest pandering at its most (literally) sickening and dangerous. Thanks again, Ohio. There's a press-blackout on this from the major outlets. Some add'l coverage here.
The section of the 2005 Energy Policy Act repealing PUHCA is a tiny, almost invisible portion of the massive document. But as a result of the simple line ("The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79 et seq.) is repealed."), there are now no restrictions on who can buy public utilities. Holding companies will no longer be required to divest non-utility businesses; geographic limitations or restrictions on number of holdings are similarly gone. Even the SEC has been taken out of the process, replaced by a much-scaled-down review by the Federal Energy Regulations Commission (FERC).
In short, the repeal of PUHCA means that public utility companies are now fair game for buyouts and consolidation. One likely scenario is that we see a process of merger and acquisition in the energy utility market akin to that in the telecommunications arena. Moreover, as major global energy companies such as ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco have been at the forefront of efforts to get PUHCA repealed, it's highly likely that they -- along with other energy majors -- will look to spend some of their recent windfall profits on utility acquisition, buying not just the power supply businesses, but the customer information. But it need not be an oil firm buying up utilities; billionaire investors and non-energy industry companies could just as easily buy up local utilities.
You're paying far, far more than that. Bush signed a corporate welfare bill that benefits big energy by repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act and allows for massive, unregulated consolidation and enormous tax breaks to the already handout-heavy industry.
To add insult to injury, the bill also tacks on this bonus:
A provision meant to curtail U.S. oil demand by one million barrels a year by 2025 was struck down, as well as provisions for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling and protecting companies from lawsuits pertaining to gasoline additive MTBE and its contamination of drinking water supplies in less than 40 states.
The oil and gas industries get $2.7 billion in tax breaks and $500 million over the next 10 years for research into drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is special interest pandering at its most (literally) sickening and dangerous. Thanks again, Ohio. There's a press-blackout on this from the major outlets. Some add'l coverage here.
The section of the 2005 Energy Policy Act repealing PUHCA is a tiny, almost invisible portion of the massive document. But as a result of the simple line ("The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79 et seq.) is repealed."), there are now no restrictions on who can buy public utilities. Holding companies will no longer be required to divest non-utility businesses; geographic limitations or restrictions on number of holdings are similarly gone. Even the SEC has been taken out of the process, replaced by a much-scaled-down review by the Federal Energy Regulations Commission (FERC).
In short, the repeal of PUHCA means that public utility companies are now fair game for buyouts and consolidation. One likely scenario is that we see a process of merger and acquisition in the energy utility market akin to that in the telecommunications arena. Moreover, as major global energy companies such as ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco have been at the forefront of efforts to get PUHCA repealed, it's highly likely that they -- along with other energy majors -- will look to spend some of their recent windfall profits on utility acquisition, buying not just the power supply businesses, but the customer information. But it need not be an oil firm buying up utilities; billionaire investors and non-energy industry companies could just as easily buy up local utilities.
