CA 11

Pombo's bold stance on oil industry giveaways

In a bold move for Richard Pombo, he opposes a giveaway of $7 billion over the next 5 years to oil companies.

"I don't think there is a single member of Congress who thinks you should get royalty relief at $70 a barrel" for oil, said Representative Richard W. Pombo, Republican of California and chairman of the House Resources Committee.

"It was Congress's intent," Mr. Pombo said in an interview on Friday, "that if oil was at $10 a barrel, there should be royalty relief so companies could have some kind of incentive to invest capital. But at $70 a barrel, don't expect royalty relief."

Not surprisingly, George Miller (D CA-7) has been fighting this royalty program for years.

Miller [...] opposed the royalty holiday when it was first proposed in 1995, chastised Congress for catering to the special interests. “This is the cost of Congress letting oil companies write public policy,” Miller said. “The oil and gas royalty holiday is one of the most egregious giveaways of taxpayer money in our history and it can and should be stopped.

This program is not justified, period. But it is even more outrageous coming at a time when Congress is cutting food stamps, home heating assistance and college loans for poor and middle class families. You just cannot justify giving away $7 billion in tax dollars to oil companies recording the largest profits ever in corporate history.”

Seems Pombo's "principles" kick in only after the oil and gas industry is flooded with profits and after this scandal was published in the New York Times. Great. Where was Pombo's leadership on this during the last 10 years?

posted by brian @ 9:38 AM