"On the heels of Exxon announcing it largest first-quarter profit margin ever, at $7.86 billion, I hope the President takes responsibility for failing to prevent the billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil and gas industry that the U.S. House of Representatives approved last week, under the guise of helping out American consumers at the gas pump.

     "After all, the President recently said, ‘I will tell you with $55 oil, we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives.’

     "But since the Republican-led House took the lead on this energy legislation - - legislation framed by the President’s hand-picked, industry-dominated energy task force’s recommendations - - the taxpayers are left with rising bills at the pump at the start of the summer travel season.

     "To put it bluntly, if the taxpayer is feeling the pain of an energy crisis, it is coming from the derrick sticking out of his back pocket and the energy bill does nothing to ease it."Adding insult to injury for my home State of West Virginia and our Nation’s most abundant natural energy source, the energy bill does nothing for coal. Although the energy bill does contain an authorization for the clean coal technology program, it is merely a window dressing, because there is no real money provided. No direct spending.

     "So it is an empty promise which rings as hollow as the $2 billion for clean coal technology pledged by President Bush during his first Presidential campaign. Meanwhile, the bill provides $8 billion in tax breaks largely for big oil, the very companies who are gouging us at the pump.

     "The President’s energy plan is empty of protections for some of America’s most fragile landscape. It lacks any and all budgetary sanity. It contains not even a hint of an interest in the health, safety, and well-being of the citizens of energy-producing communities."