BTL:Revived Energy Bill, with Giveaways to Big Energy Companies...

...is Again Before Congress. Interview with Karen Wayland, acting legislative director, Natural Resources Defense Council, conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus

Revived Energy Bill, with Giveaways to Big Energy Companies, is Again Before Congress

Interview with Karen Wayland, acting legislative director, Natural Resources Defense Council, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Last November, the Senate defeated a mammoth energy bill that would have increased U.S. reliance on oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power while throwing crumbs to promote renewable energy and conservation. In addition to the active opposition of environmental groups, what killed the bill in the end was the insistence of some legislative leaders that the measure provide protection from lawsuits filed against makers of MTBE, a toxic gasoline additive demonstrated to have contaminated groundwater across the country.

The bill has been introduced in Congress again by Sen. Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico. This time, the Senate version omits the liability protection for MTBE, but House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says that makes the bill a non-starter in the House of Representatives. DeLay's district is home to companies that produce MTBE. Other features of the bill include big tax breaks for the oil industry, and expensive tax-payer funded offshore drilling incentives such as a proposed giveaway of undersea oil to energy companies in environmentally fragile Alaskan areas.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Karen Wayland, acting legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She examines who stands to win and lose in this new incarnation of the energy bill.

For more information on the energy bill, call the NRDC at (202) 513- 6241 or visit their website at www.nrdc.org Related links:

Greenpeace at www.greenpeace.org Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project at www.citizen.org/cmep

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"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org
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