Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, along with 49 of their fellow lawmakers, failed in their attempt to allow debate on a bill that would have eliminated billions of dollars in federal subsidies for oil and gas companies.Senate Republicans successfully blocked debate on the bill Tuesday, effectively killing it. The final vote was 51-43, nine votes shy of the total needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
Grassley joined with five of his fellow Republicans and voted to allow debate on the bill despite reservations.
“We need to have a debate on the critical issue of energy prices,” Grassley said. “There were a lot of good things in this bill, including provisions to authorize lawsuits against oil cartel members for antitrust violations as well as provisions aimed at reducing speculation in oil markets.”
In addition to eliminating the subsidies and investing that money in renewable energy, the bill also applied a windfall-profit tax to large oil companies that fail to invest in clean energy technologies.
“Once again, Democrats tried to bring up legislation that would address one of the major challenges facing our nation – high energy costs,” Harkin said in a statement. “I supported the bill for a variety of reasons, most of all because it contains strong incentives to encourage oil companies to re-direct more of their profits into the development of alternative energy sources, which is good for Iowa. Regrettably, Bush Republicans blocked debate and further action. I am hopeful that they will join with us in advocating for their constituents who are bracing for four dollar a gallon costs to fill their tanks.”
Grassley said his vote in support of allowing debate does not mean he supported the final draft of the bill.
“I saw firsthand the result of a windfall profits tax the last time it was enacted,” he said. “It didn’t do anything to produce more energy. If you tax something, you get less of it. I’m also disappointed the bill didn’t include a single provision to increase the production or supply of traditional energy resources.”
According to theWashington Independent, the bill would take roughly $17 million in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use them to promote solar, wind and other renewable energies over the next 10 years. In addition, large oil companies that don’t invest in new refineries and clean technologies would get hit with a 25 percent windfall-profit tax.
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