[CleanEdge]: Energy Bill Standoff Holds Renewables Hostage
Most people in the renewable energy
business have probably never heard of Lyondell Chemical Co. of
Houston, Texas. Even fewer see a connection between this company
and the future of clean energy in the United States. But there is
one–albeit indirect– and it speaks volumes about the appalling way we
go about formulating so-called energy ‹policyŠ in this country.
Lyondell… the largest producer of
the gasoline additive MTBE (metyl tertiary butyl ether), now a
suspected carcinogen whose underground storage has allegedly led
to water contamination in 1,500 cities and towns across the
country… is the No. 1 business contributor to the 2004 re- election
campaign of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Now isn’t that special!