No Congressional Action On Energy Before Election Break - WP

[hatrack]

When oil prices punched through $75 a barrel and gasoline topped $3 a gallon five months ago, members of Congress offered a raft of proposals, ranging from more U.S. drilling to windfall profits taxes to antitrust investigations. They railed against oil executives' pay packages, and some called for higher gasoline mileage standards. Five months later, long after "Energy Week" came and went in the House of Representatives, Congress is heading home without adopting any significant legislation on energy.

Most notably, the Senate and House failed to bridge differences over how much offshore oil and gas drilling to allow on the Outer Continental Shelf, with angry negotiators blaming each other for the collapse of talks early yesterday.

Offshore drilling made it further than other energy proposals that came up during the long, hot summer of high gasoline prices. Among the ideas that failed to gain traction in Congress: a bipartisan move to raise mileage standards led by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and others, and a White House request for clearer authority to set fuel efficiency targets under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. The CAFE fuel economy standard hasn't changed since 1985. About half of U.S. oil consumption goes to automobiles.

"The president started the year by saying we're 'addicted' to oil in the State of the Union address, and yet another year passed without any action on U.S. oil use and specifically on improving U.S. fuel economy," said Paul W. Bledsoe, director of communications and strategy at the National Commission on Energy Policy.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901433.html

[4dsc]

1. We cannot drill our way out of peak oil

No amount of drilling for oil will change the course of history. We are headed for a worldwide peak oil crisis and nothing will stop that from happening..

[phantom power]

2. Well, they've got a lot on their plate....

what with trying to get us all back to the 11th century.