The rain had barely stopped from September’s devastating hurricanes before allies of the oil industry in Congress were offering up new dirty energy bills under the guise of relief from oil and gas shortages. On Oct. 7, the House narrowly passed a bill with more than $3 billion in new oil industry subsidies sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (Texas).

Before the final vote, the House leadership dropped a provision sought by the Bush administration to repeal the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) program.

U.S. PIRG’s analysis showed that the provision would result in more than 70,000 additional deaths from power plant pollution alone by 2025. U.S. PIRG released a policy paper, “Solutions to America’s Oil Crisis: A Federal Agenda for Reducing Oil Demand and Protecting Consumers,” outlining energy-saving solutions that would protect U.S. consumers and the American economy from future price shocks.

“In this time of skyrocketing energy prices, Americans deserve responsible policies to save oil and protect pocketbooks, not dirtier air and more oil industry handouts,” said U.S. PIRG Legislative Director Anna Aurilio.