Today, Rick Perry finally unveiled his much-anticipated “jobs” plan. The 41-page document, however, is less focused on creating jobs than providing benefits to multi-national oil and gas companies at the expense of taxpayers.
Here are the top 10 giveaways to Big Oil in Perry’s plan:
1. End all efforts at federal regulation of fracking by Big Oil. “Hydraulic fracturing has proven to be extremely safe forhuman health and the environment, and is successfully regulated at the state level.”
2. End all regulation of Big Oil’s CO2 emissions. “Greenhouse gases are naturally occurring gases and carbon dioxide (CO2) (the focus of environmental activists) is exhaled by animals, required tosupport plant life, and represents lessthan 0.1% of the world’s atmosphere. … Repeal EPA’s authority over green-house gases (GHG), and eliminate allcurrent and planned EPA programs torestrict carbon dioxide emissions (in-cluding taxes or cap and tradeschemes).”
3. Allow Big Oil to drill on sensitive lands owned by taxpayers. “We also strongly recommend opening other federal lands with known resources for development, particularly in Alaska, the Atlantic OCS, and our western states. Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) Coastal Plain (1002) alone contains as much as 12 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.”
4. End federal efforts to require development of renewable energy, which competes with Big Oil. “We oppose the adoption of national Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), and believe each state should continue to be able to determine how to best regulate electric generation and distribution.”
5. Cripple the EPA by slashing budget by 60%. “We believe we must dramatically reduce the size, budget, and in?uence of EPA. Instead of empowering a centralized organization of bureaucrats, we should return more regulatory power to state governments. … Our reconstructed,limited EPA would be dramatically re-duced in size and in?uence, returning more power of regulation and up to 60%of the current federal budget to state governments.”
6. Establishing a moratorium on all new regulations on Big Oil. “During the reconstruction of the EPA, we must institute a moratorium onnew regulation, to establish a predictable business environment and encourage energy development.”
7. Eliminate tax incentives for renewable energy and create additional subsidies for Big Oil. “American taxpayers should not be forced [to]… shoulder the cost of funding billions of dollars in subsidies and loan guarantees for inefficient and uncompetitive green energy programs.”
8. Kneecap groups for filing suit over environmental violations by Big Oil.“During the reconstruction of the EPA, we must institute a moratorium on new regulation, to establish a predictable business environment and encourage energy development.”
9. Fast-tracking drilling permits for Big Oil in the Gulf Coast. “The ?rst step towards energy security and job growth is returning immediately to 2007 levels of permitting in the Gulf of Mexico, responsibly making more of the Gulf available for energy production.”
10. Immediate approval of the top item on Big Oil’s wish-list, the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Perry estimates that all this will create over 1 million new jobs. Not surprisingly, this number comes directly from Big Oil’s lobbying arm, the American Petroleum Institute, and has been thoroughly debunked.
You can read more analysis of Perry’s plan by Dan Weiss HERE.
And you can read the full Perry plan HERE.
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