Democrats Prepare Election-Year Fuel Relief Package. By Ian Talley, Stephen Power and Sarah Lueck, WSJ, May 2, 2008, subscription. "Top congressional Democrats are moving to unveil as early as next week a package of measures intended to mitigate high gas prices and present a sharper contrast to President Bush in the struggle to redefine energy policy. The proposals are expected to include temporarily halting the build-up of the nation's emergency oil stockpile, giving regulators greater authority to investigate and penalize oil companies that engage in price gouging, and seeking to discourage speculative trading in oil and gas markets, possibly by raising the collateral traders must provide. Democrats are likely to propose a temporary 'windfall-profits tax,' possibly of 25%, on major oil companies [who] would be exempt... if they invested profits in domestically produced renewable fuels or expanded refinery capacity or renewable electricity production. Democrats were discussing Thursday how the additional tax revenues might be used, with some advocating rebates for consumers and others backing additional investment in research and incentives for renewable energy."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment