Government wants to force oil companies to invest more in alternative fuels

“We are forcing oil companies to change their ways,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) told journalists May 7. “We will hold them accountable for unconscionable price-gouging and force them to invest in renewable energy or pay a price for refusing to do so.”

I blogged about this awhile back about what Congress needed to do to fix our energy problems and one of them was to hold the oil companies accountable for producing more alternative fuels. But with that, they would have to hold the automobile manufacturers accountable to producing more alternative fuel vehicles. Little did I know that oil companies actually do spend alot of money on researching alternative fuel sources:

In May 2006, the Institute for Energy Research and the Center for Energy Economics found that oil and gas companies spent $1.2 billion between 2000 and 2005 on wind, solar, geothermal, and other non-fossil fuels. Washington simultaneously appropriated $1.6 billion on such projects.

Oil companies devoted $11 billion researching end-use technologies, including efficient heat and power co-generation, plus fuel-cell vehicles. Big Government plowed $800 million into such advancements.

All-told, the oil companies expended $12.2 billion on new energy sources. That quintupled the federal government’s $2.4 billion commitment.

BP in 2007 allocated $700 million to domestic wind-power projects. This year, five new BP wind farms worth $1.5 billion will generate 700 megawatts of electricity. BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, and Shell jointly have invested $3.5 billion in solar, wind, and biodiesel ventures.

ExxonMobil has spent $1 billion since 2004 on co-generation technology. It also is donating $100 million to Stanford University’s Global Climate and Energy Project.

As a Libertarian I know that we are supposed to believe in limited government, but my thing is why doesn’t government reward industries that come up with renewable resources or automotive manufacturers that come up with higher fuel efficiency cars instead of saying “You need to do this or else!”

Read the full story.

Read my blog about what Congress needs to do for us to become energy independent. Story.

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Tags: alternative fuel, bp, energy, exxon, gas prices, oil

3 Responses to “Government wants to force oil companies to invest more in alternative fuels”

Marsha Whitt Says:
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
You’re almost there, Kevin. The government needs to deregulate the entire industry — no, wait, let’s just get rid of the entire DOE (among other departments).

A free market, unecumbered by government rules, regulations, madates, and subsidies, would supply whatever type of energy the People wanted, as clean as they wanted it, at a price they were willing to pay.

Our government has created huge economic distortions by their mandates (ethanol, for instance) that a free market would NEVER have approved; thus we have more expensive, less clean, less economical fuel, and more expensive food than before.

The time is NOW for We the People to take our place as the sovereign leadership of these united States — the biggest, best, first step is http://www.OperationOffTheFence.org.
Elaine Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
The exorbitant price of fuel has driven up the price of everything from the increased production and shipping costs. I have yet to hear more than a sugar coated one liner from either candidates as to their plans to bring Americans relief. Does either candidate even have a plan other than to support new off shore drilling. It is easy to say we need to decrease our dependence of foreign oil and seek out alternative fuel sources, but where’s the beef…where’s the plan?

a site to share if you should be interested…

http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
james Says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
i dun thot dat dem der oil compennies shud put mony in…