110th Congress Seeks Green Fund, Rollback of Tax Cuts

Washington DC January 2, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that in the first few weeks of the new Congress, Democrat leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to establish a dedicated fund to promote renewable energy and conservation, using money from oil companies, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

"What we'll do is roll back the subsidies to Big Oil and use the resources to invest in a reserve for research in alternative energy," Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi told reporters recently.

Meanwhile, details of a renewable fuels fund have yet to be worked out. The Interior Department has been trying to get more than 50 companies to rework 1998-99 drilling leases that allow the companies to avoid paying billions of dollars in royalties because of a government mistake in writing the leases.

Speaker-elect Pelosi calls the royalty avoidance from the 1998-99 leases the biggest oil industry subsidy issue she intends to tackle early.

The Dems' 100-day agenda also includes a tax break that was aimed at promoting U.S. manufacturing by reducing the corporate tax rate on profits from products made in the U.S.