12/13/07
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jay Natoli, (202) 785-8683 or jay_natoli@lcv.org
Minority of Senate Kills Efforts to Repeal Billions in Tax Giveaways to Big Oil
Senate Falls One Vote Short of Cloture on Energy Bill
WASHINGTON, DC – League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski issued this statement regarding the Senate’s failure to invoke cloture on the Energy Independence and Security Act:
“A minority of the U.S. Senate today gave a holiday gift to Big Oil and once again, the American people get an undeserved lump of coal.
“At a time when the oil industry is getting fat on near-$100 per barrel oil and record profits, a minority of senators sided with big oil and big coal to block a measure that is good for jobs, good for the economy, good for national security, good for the consumer and good for the planet. They did so in order to protect tax giveaways to big oil – supporting dirty energy of the past at a time when the American people are demanding we invest in the clean, renewable energy of the future.
A majority of 59 senators voted for moving forward on the bill, which would increase fuel efficiency for automobiles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and repeal billions of dollars of subsidies for oil companies. But we needed one more vote today.
Today’s vote underscores the urgent need to elect more pro-environment senators who will fight for our energy future and not continue to subsidize the richest special interests in the world.”
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The nonprofit League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is the independent political voice for the environment.
To secure the environmental future of our planet, LCV's mission is to advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt and implement such policies.
For more information, please visit us on the web at www.lcv.org
