Doyle: Gas petition one ‘pressure’ point

Urges Legislature to take up alternative-fuels bill

Oshkosh Northwestern
May 3, 2006

On its first day, more than 17,000 Wisconsin residents signed a Web petition in urging President Bush and Congress to cut tax subsidies to cash-flush oil companies, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.

“This is something people really care about,” Doyle said Tuesday during a stop at Oshkosh’s Kwik Trip service station at State Highway 21 and U.S. Highway 41. “I think it’s a matter of us finding several ways to keep the pressure on Congress and the president.”

The stop was one of several Doyle has made in Northeastern Wisconsin, urging the state Legislature to pass alternative fuel legislation before this session expires, daring Congress and the White House to “quit looking at each other” about escalating gas prices and asking citizens to sign the petition.

In Madison, Doyle wants the Legislature to take up the “Promoting our Wisconsin Energy Resources,” or POWER, Initiative before adjournment for the year.

The bill offers $335,000 in grants for gas stations for adding more E85 ethanol-gas pumps. It also offers $225,000 in grants promoting development of wind, hydrogen and biomass fuels.

E85 fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is produced locally by Utica Energy LLC.

This week, Wisconsin joined Michigan in the online petition asking the president and Congress to cut $10 billion in tax breaks for oil companies logging record profits as fuel prices continue to surge.

Doyle was repeatedly critical of what he said was a lack of action in Washington.

“Get rid of those tax breaks,” he said Tuesday. “It’s the American people who need the break and not the oil companies.”

State Sen. Carol Roessler, R-Oshkosh, is skeptical of the Web petition’s ability to influence gas prices, which are controlled by forces far greater than legislative votes.

“The federal government just doesn’t control gas prices,” Roessler said. “… I’m just not sure what that’s going to do.”

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