Posted by Nick Beaudrot
CBS News -- which I try to use as a barometer of what non-cable news is covering -- has this story on their gateway page: "Congress Nearing Energy Bill Deal". Let's pause for a moment about the thought of giving oil and natural gas extraction even more tax favored status at a time when Exxon Mobil literally has more money than it knows what to do with.
Now that that's over, let's get to the real news: "House and Senate conferees abandoned giving makers of the gasolineadditive MTBE liability protection against environmental lawsuits onSunday, removing the major roadblock to enactment of broad energylegislation". This is significant, because House Leadership, in the form of DeLay and his collegaue "Smokey" Joe Barton (R-TX) have had a monomaniacal obsession with protecting the poor small-market gasoline manufacturers from the big bad environmental groups. It seems strange for them to give up on their favorite pet rock when they are so close to victory. So are they now secretly plotting to scuttle the whole bill? Or has Tom DeLay just lost for the first time in years?
