WASHINGTON — When oil company executives came before the Republican-controlled Congress in 2005 to defend their record profits amid high gasoline prices, they were spared the indignity of being sworn in under bright TV lights, as the tobacco chiefs had been a decade earlier.
But with Democrats in charge, perhaps no industry will find the new Congress less hospitable than the oil industry.
That will be underscored Thursday when the House is expected to approve a bill that would repeal billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks passed by the GOP-controlled Congress.
The measure would raise about $14 billion over 10 years by repealing the tax breaks and by closing a loophole that allowed royalty-free offshore oil leases. The money would be used to promote energy conservation and develop alternative fuels.
Currently, the government spends about $1.2 billion a year on projects to promote energy efficiency and renewable fuels.
"It looks like Congress is looking to rebalance the equation," said Bill Prindle, acting executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, an energy think tank based in Washington.
Repealing the tax breaks will be the last of a spate of measures, including today's vote to cut interest rates for student loans, that House Democrats pledged to pass in their first 100 legislative hours.
Gasoline prices have eased from the record high of more than $3 per gallon set in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina damaged Gulf Coast energy facilities; the average price nationally Tuesday was $2.23 per gallon for regular unleaded, according to the Auto Club. But energy remains a potent political issue, as evidenced by the nearly 200 lawmakers who have signed up as co-sponsors of the House bill.
President Bush is expected to propose energy initiatives in his State of the Union speech next week, and Democrats are spotlighting the tax repeal bill as a down payment on their plans to pursue a new energy policy.
The tax breaks were aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by encouraging domestic production of oil and natural gas. But even usually industry-friendly Republicans have found it hard to defend the oil companies after they recorded record profits.
One Republican who supports the House measure says it is smart to move the country away from fossil fuels. "Oil and natural gas are not forever," said Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland.
