Energy companies squirm under Congressional attention

…”It shocked me the speed with which that legislation went from committee to the Senate floor,” said Ben Shepperd, executive vice president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

While the tax provision was bad enough, he said, the fact that it took oil company dollars to fund alternative energy sources was “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”


Shepperd continued, “We recognize increases in demand require development of other energy sources. We’re already seeing oil companies diversifying their portfolios.”

He added that there were some good provisions in the legislation, primarily with regards to carbon dioxide (CO2).

“One of the catastrophes in America today is ethanol quotas and the way they keep raising them to require more ethanol use,” said Kirk Edwards, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and president of MacLondon Royalties. “It is absolutely the most inefficient fuel and what they’re doing to the economy in terms of corn prices … it’s bizarre to me how Congress thinks, how they want more ethanol. Beyond corn prices, people are taking out sorghum, soybeans and other crops to plant corn. It’s a boondoggle and it will collapse someday.”

Midland Reporter-Telegram