by Mike Hall, Jan 18, 2007

During a year when we were paying $3-plus a gallon at the pump and wondering if maybe it was time to get a bicycle, the mega-oil companies were making record profits. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives told Big Oil that some of the free ride may be over.

On a 264-163 vote, the House passed a bill that would repeal billions of new and additional subsidies that energy giants such as ExxonMobil have won in the past six years under the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.

According to a fact sheet from the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.):

Over the last several years, profits and subsidies for big oil have climbed, as has our dependence on foreign oil. In 2006, the big five oil companies made $97 billion—nearly five times their profits in 2002. Gas prices at the pump also topped $3 a gallon.

Along with repealing the subsidies, the bill (H.R. 6) calls for reinvesting the funds into renewable energy resources to help address the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, which now stands a 65 percent.

Says Debbie Sease, director of the Sierra Club’s national campaigns:

With some of Big Oil’s best friends having been shown the door by the voters, the new Congress has a unique opportunity and responsibility to move America forward by taking the first step toward the energy policy we need and deserve.

And that first step will be to roll back these billions of dollars in unnecessary subsidies given to outdated energy industries, and instead redirect the money to programs that benefit American jobs and families, help end our dangerous oil dependence and put us on the path toward real energy security.

According to Pelosi’s office:

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is critical to bolstering our national security and creating good-paying new jobs. American farms abound with crops that can be used to fuel our cars and trucks…. In 2005, the ethanol industry supported the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in all sectors of the U.S. economy, boosting household income by $5.7 billion.

The Bush administration announced this week that it opposes most of the repeals of the Big Oil giveaways in the House bill. The Senate is expected to take up its own oil subsidy legislation.

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