End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015
Latest action · Aug 18, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedApr 22, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015
Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal the authority of the Department of the Interior to reduce or eliminate royalty payments for oil and natural gas leases in the Outer Continental Shelf.
Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to increase minimum royalty payments for coal, oil, and natural gas leases.
Amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to prohibit payment of interest upon any overpayment of royalties.
Amends the Oil Pollution Act to eliminate the limitation on liability for offshore facilities and pipeline operators for oil spills.
Rescinds all unobligated balances made available to the World Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank, the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Energy (DOE), and other international financing entities to carry out any project that supports power plants that operate on fossil fuel (i.e., coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivatives used for fuel). Exempts from such rescission any fossil-fueled power plant project located in a Least Developed Country if no other economically feasible alternative exists, and the project uses the most efficient technology available.
Terminates the Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development in DOE and related implementation authority.
Prohibits the Department of Agriculture from making loans under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to carry out projects that will use fossil fuel.
Prohibits the use of Department of Transportation funds to award any grant or other direct assistance to any rail or port project that transports fossil fuel.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) limit or repeal provisions allowing tax incentives for investment in fossil fuels, (2) increase the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and (3) impose a 13% tax on the removal price of any taxable crude oil or natural gas from the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico.
Repeals the corporate income tax exemption for publicly traded partnerships with qualifying income and gains from activities relating to fossil fuels.
Designates the Powder River Basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming as a coal producing region.
Eliminates accelerated depreciation for property that is receiving a subsidy for fossil fuel production.
Cosponsors 2
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jun 23, 2015.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Jun 23, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Zoe Lofgren | Jun 23, 2015 |
Committees 9
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| House | Transportation and Infrastructure Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee | Referred Apr 23, 2015 | |
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee | Referred May 19, 2015 | |
| House | Science, Space, and Technology Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| Environment Subcommittee | Referred Aug 18, 2015 | |
| House | Energy and Commerce Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| Energy Subcommittee | Referred Apr 24, 2015 | |
| House | Agriculture Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee | Referred May 15, 2015 | |
| House | Appropriations Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| House | Financial Services Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
| House | Foreign Affairs Committee | Referred Apr 22, 2015 |
Actions 7
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Aug 18, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment.
- May 19, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
- May 15, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit.
- Apr 24, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Power.
- Apr 23, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
- Apr 22, 2015Introduced in House
- Apr 22, 2015Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Science, Space, and Technology, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Appropriations, Financial Services, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 59, April 22, 2015, page H2418.
CRS reports 1
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 1
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R43128 | Oil Sands and the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund: The Definition of “Oil” and Related Issues for Congress Archived | Report | Feb 15, 2017 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1041 | End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015 | Identical bill | Apr 22, 2015 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To eliminate certain subsidies for fossil-fuel production.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Energy.
- Accounting and auditing
- Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit
- Alternative and renewable resources
- Appropriations
- Business investment and capital
- Capital gains tax
- Climate change and greenhouse gases
- Coal
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Energy
- Electric power generation and transmission
- Energy
- Energy research
- Energy revenues and royalties
- Environmental technology
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Foreign loans and debt
- Government lending and loan guarantees
- Government trust funds
- Gulf of Mexico
- Income tax credits
- Income tax deductions
- Interest, dividends, interest rates
- Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
- Marine pollution
- Mining
- Montana
- Motor fuels
- Multilateral development programs
- Navigation, waterways, harbors
- Oil and gas
- Pipelines
- Pollution liability
- Public utilities and utility rates
- Railroads
- Research and development
- Rural conditions and development
- Sales and excise taxes
- Securities
- Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
- Taxation of foreign income
- Transportation programs funding
- Wyoming
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 22, 2015Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
