Koch Gangsters, Bursting With Record Profits, Blame High Gas Prices On Obama-- While Bernie Sanders Introduces The 10 Million Solar Roofs Act

With all the extra billions in profits Big Oil-- particularly the Koch gangsters-- have made by gouging the American public on gas, they're launching a major propaganda attack on Obama... blaming him for high gas prices. The Koch's GOP front group, Americans for Prosperity, is leading the way "asserting that the administration’s regulation of the energy industries is key to pain at the pump." They're hoping the public is too confused to think about their record profits and the fact that domestic drilling is also near an all-time high. Keep in mind that after World War II, when Big Oil was exposed for supplying Germany and Japan with oil and shown to be traitors, the Republican (and Nazi-sympathizer) head of Standard Oil, William Stamp Farish haughtily told a Senate investigation that Standard Oil was "an international company." Much as they do on TV today with an unrelenting series of misleading ads, Standard buffed its image with an advertising campaign that promoted the virtues of its products, and was helped along by the willingness of the major papers, who were the beneficiaries of the ad dollars.

The Kochs and other Big Oil gangsters have done all they could to retard the development of energy alternatives-- and the GOP (and Blue Dogs) have gone right along with them-- as they've accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in legalistic bribes in return. Though it wasn't widely reported, last week two senators from the opposite end of the spectrum-- Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, who takes no more from Big Oil, and Arkansas Republican John Boozman, a conservative corporate shill who's gobbled up $119,152 in "contributions"-- introduced legislation that aims to lower the cost of solar power and put the U.S. on track to install 10 million solar systems on homes and businesses by 2020.

As I've explained before, this year I took the plunge and went all solar for my electric energy. My monthly electric bill is now zero. In fact, I'm making excess electricity on my roof and shipping it back into the L.A. power grid. (I get a credit.) I can't understand why states don't require all new homes to be built with solar panels on the roof-- although Big Oil has fought against these kinds of proposals very effectively.

Sanders and Boozman are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee. They were joined in introducing the solar legislation by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"This legislation will make it more affordable for families and businesses to install solar, by helping communities reduce the costs associated with solar energy permitting," Sanders said. "As we lower the cost of solar energy and increase our use of solar, we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying manufacturing and installation jobs in this country. This bill also sets strong targets for American solar energy production, to ensure we compete vigorously with China and Europe for solar energy jobs."

Boozman said the goal is to reduce unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to American-made solar energy. "Our country benefits by using our domestic energy resources, including the expanded use of renewables, such as solar and wind energy. A simplified permitting process will make solar energy more affordable. I am especially pleased that our bill is fully offset and uses existing authorized spending to spur improvements in solar permitting and encourage the deployment of solar energy systems."

The 10 Million Solar Roofs Act of 2011 would establish a goal of powering 10 million homes and businesses with solar energy by 2020. The measure also would incorporate a Department of Energy initiative called SunShot to make solar more competitive with conventional energy technologies. The bill would provide grants to communities to help them make their solar energy permitting process less costly and more efficient, and would recognize and reward communities that have adopted common policies on solar permits.  

A solar industry report said obstacles to acquiring local permits add up to $2,500 to the cost of a typical residential solar installation. The Department of Energy also identified local permitting costs as an obstacle to further lowering solar energy costs that declined by 60 percent since 1995.

Supporters of The Ten Million Solar Roofs bill include the Solar Energy Industries Association, the National League of Cities, and the League of Conservation Voters.

Watch Big Oil tug on the leashes of their congressional shills to kill this one fast.