Stripping

A coalition of 20 Senate Democrats has called on Vice President Joe Biden to make sure a provision stripping major oil and natural gas producers of an estimated $21 billion in tax breaks over the next decade is included in any deficit-reduction package negotiated with Republicans.The coalition led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made the request in a letter to Biden, who is representing the administration in efforts to reach a deficit-cutting deal with Republicans, The Hill reported. On May 17 “a majority of the Senate voted for legislation to close these loopholes for the Big Five oil companies, and this mandate cannot be ignored,” the group told the vice president. While 52 senators, including three Republicans, voted for the bill to repeal the tax breaks, the measure was blocked because the majority failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. The bill, sponsored by Menendez, sought to revoke the tax breaks for Chevron Corp., BP plc, Royal Dutch Shell plc, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp. Following the bill’s defeat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he expected the legislation to resurface.

A coalition of 20 Senate Democrats has called on Vice President Joe Biden to make sure a provision stripping major oil and natural gas producers of an estimated $21 billion in tax breaks over the next decade is included in any deficit-reduction package negotiated with Republicans.

The Obama administration has proposed stripping away tax breaks from oil and natural producers for “a very simple reason and that is they are not needed,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday.

Columbia Energy Group announced today it is stripping offanother of its unregulated assets prior to its merger with NiSourceInc., with a definitive agreement to sell its retail energy massmarketing operations to The New Power Company, a retail venturerecently launched by Enron, with help from IBM and America Online.(see GPI Daily, May 17)

Columbia Energy Group announced last Friday it is stripping off another of its unregulated assets prior to its merger with NiSource Inc., with a definitive agreement to sell its retail energy mass marketing operations to The New Power Company, a retail venture recently launched by Enron, with help from IBM and America Online (see NGI, May 22).