• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Energy Bill AIDS Wind, Ethanol

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 29--WASHINGTON - New incentives for ethanol and wind power will benefit Kansas in the energy bill that's poised to pass Congress today, but the overall bill is expected to give consumers little relief against high energy prices.

The 1,725-page bill provides $14.5 billion in energy tax breaks, largely to traditional oil-and-gas companies. It also promotes renewable energy sources and new energy technologies and attempts to revitalize the nuclear power industry.

"This energy plan is a big step in the right direction," said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard.

The bill passed the House 275-156 on Thursday. The Senate is expected to pass it today.

The actions follow months of congressional negotiations and years of Bush administration efforts to enact an energy plan. Every House member from Kansas supported the bill.

Controversial measures that stalled past energy bills, such as a provision to shield makers of fuel additive MTBE from lawsuits, were dropped, and other measures were added to garner support.

In Kansas, incentives for ethanol, and to a lesser extent wind energy, helped build support for the bill. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, hailed the bill's requirement that oil refiners double the use of corn-produced ethanol in gasoline to 7.5 billion gallons a year by 2012.

"The use of more grain-based fuels is good for the environment, as they burn cleaner, good for Kansas farmers who will have additional markets for their crops, and good for the Kansas economy because of additional jobs and revenue," Moran said.

Kansas currently has seven ethanol plants in operation, with several more in development. At full capacity they can produce 170 million gallons of ethanol a year, using 65 million bushels of corn and grain sorghum.

Greg Krissek, director of marketing and government affairs for United Bio Energy, an ethanol plant supplier in Wichita, said the energy bill will aid ethanol projects in Pratt, Phillipsburg and other Kansas communities.

"People who have been considering whether to build a plant should ramp up after this," he said.

The bill also extends a wind-power tax credit for another three years. Lee Allison, chairman of the state's Energy Resources Coordinating Council, says that's huge for wind power.

Twenty-two wind farms are currently on the drawing board in Kansas, he said. While many of them will never be built, the extended tax credit, which can make wind power one-third less expensive, will make more of them economically viable, he said.

"Wind energy would not have gone forward in Kansas without extension of the federal production tax credit. Flat out, period," he said.

But while the White House and congressional Republicans praised the bill as a way to help solve America's high energy prices and long-term energy needs, the short-term benefits were still heavily weighted toward oil and gas.

Opponents called the legislation a giveaway of taxpayer money to large energy companies at a time when consumers need help and oil company profits -- at record levels thanks to $60-a-barrel oil and $2-a-gallon gasoline -- don't.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill a "missed opportunity" for taxpayers, consumers and America's future energy needs.

"At a time when Congress is trying to scrape together enough federal funding for veterans' health care, Social Security, education, Medicare and Medicaid, why are we giving away taxpayer money hand over fist to well-established, profitable companies?" she asked.

The bill "fails to protect consumers from high gasoline prices... and it fails to protect our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil," she said.

Once Congress passes the energy bill, it will go to President Bush's desk, where he is expected to sign it.

-----

To see more of The Wichita Eagle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansas.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

More News in this Category