End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-1041
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2015-04-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: 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 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

Summary:
action_date: 2015-04-22
text: 

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.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-04-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-04-22
text: Introduced in Senate