Now Obama calls it 'the energy and oil spill bill' (even though the catastrophe has inconveniently 'disappeared')

7/27/10, "Harry Reid: New Energy and oil bill draft unveiled, less sweeping than failed climate legislation," Huffington Post, F. Frommer

• "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a draft of energy and oil spill legislation Tuesday, having to settle for a far less sweeping bill than the cap on carbon emissions he had hoped for.

Reid, D-Nev., was forced last week to give up the cap on carbon, which is blamed for global warming, when it became clear he didn't have the votes to pass it.

The new bill would require oil companies to pay higher fees into

• the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
  

and would eliminate the $75 million cap on economic liability from an oil spill. It calls for spending $5 billion for the Home Star program, which would provide rebates to consumers to encourage energy efficiency upgrades. It also would fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund....

• On vehicles, the measure has portions of an electric vehicle bill introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., including $400 million to encourage the deployment of electric cars in certain cities
  

and a competition run by the federal government to develop a battery that will power a car for 500 miles on a single charge. The bill also encourages federal agencies to buy electric drive vehicles for their fleets and

• offers incentives to retrofit heavy-duty vehicles for natural gas."...

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