Tue, Mar 4, 2008 (12:04 p.m.)

Gasoline made from foreign oil is a higher priority for Rep. Dean Heller than alternative fuels made by American companies.

The Nevada Republican made that clear to Las Vegas Sun reporter Lisa Mascaro in explaining why he voted last week to preserve tax breaks for the five biggest U.S. oil companies.

She described Heller as standing before a wall map of his rural Nevada district in his Washington, D.C., office. As he pinpointed several communities, he would characterize them with two words: pickup trucks.

Heller explained that the House bill he opposed which would roll back $18 billion worth of tax breaks for the oil companies over the next 10 years and invest that amount in emerging U.S. renewable energy companies would cause gasoline prices to rise. This, he said, would cause hardship for all of the miners and ranchers in his district who drive pickup trucks.

Heller’s logic escapes us.

The five oil companies earned $123 billion last year alone. They have long since passed the time when they need taxpayers to give them a helping hand.

Heller said the oil companies, unless they keep getting those tax breaks, will cut back on exploration, meaning the supply of gas will dwindle and prices will rise. Fat chance. With oil prices now regularly closing each day at more than $100 a barrel, the ExxonMobils of this world are feverishly exploring.

Also, with gas prices predicted to hit $4 a gallon this summer, it is obvious the oil companies are not using their public subsidies to provide consumers with relief.

Fortunately, a majority of House members 236 of them, including Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. understood the real energy issue facing the country’s citizens, including pickup truck owners, and passed the bill.

That real issue is alternative energy. Power from domestic wind, solar, geothermal and vegetable matter is the nation’s best hope for eventually reducing its dependence on increasingly expensive imported oil. Heller and Rep. Jon Porter, also a Nevada Republican, who joined Heller in opposing the bill, should be helping these emerging industries, not hindering them.