Posted on 02/16/2012 5:25:44 PM PST by ColdOne
The House on Thursday evening passed a bill that seeks to encourage oil shale development, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as force approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
The House approved the bill on a party line vote of 237-187. Despite Democratic objections to the bill throughout the week, 21 Democrats joined the GOP majority in the final vote, offsetting the 21 Republicans who voted against it.
The Protecting Investment in Oil Shale, the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy and Resource Security (PIONEERS) Act, H.R. 3408, is seen by Republicans as a way to expand drilling and create revenues for the government that would help fund the GOP's highway authorization bill.
But Democrats spent the week arguing that the bill would not create the revenues Republicans hoped, and would lead to environmental damage. Democrats seized on the oil shale language in particular by arguing that even energy companies believe significant oil shale production is decades away.
"What they do is, they bring out proposals here that try to build real highways with fake oil revenues that are never going to materialize," Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in Wednesday's debate. "So rather than working here in the real world, where the real transportation needs of our country are dealt with real revenues that are coming in, they talk about oil shale, which Shell [Oil Co.] says is at least another 10 years away."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
There’s only one West in the House so yes, it’s THE West.
And drive them out of office.
Well crap!
Guess they finally got to him. Another one on my sh** list.
Glad I didn’t donate.
Have you read the bill?
Nearly very bill is chock full of BS provisions, many of which have nothing to do with the subject and others that are 'poison pills' that turn otherwise supporters away.
Unless you have read the bill and could say with certainity it contains none I suggest you hold fire.
If I were a congress person I would vote no on almost everything for exactly that reason. I am sure there is something in almost every bill that I could not live with.
That is my one gripe, every bill should be a short, clean bill.
Hear!! Hear!!
This is actually a short bill and only took a few seconds to read. I can’t see anything wrong with it.
I don’t understand why West voted against it.
I can’t find the bill to read. Where did you read it?
Thanks
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