

AUDIE CORNISH, host: Meanwhile, the oil industry is launching an advertising campaign to keep billions of dollars in tax breaks. You might recall that the so-called supercommittee in Congress is racing to find places to cut more than a trillion dollars out of the nation's deficit by Thanksgiving. The oil industry fears that ending its tax breaks may be one way the supercommittee will decide to raise revenue. Jeff Brady reports, this has got big oil's lobbying machine working overtime.

JEFF BRADY: If your U.S. Senator or representative is on the supercommittee, expect your local airwaves to be peppered with oil industry ads in coming weeks. The basic message, higher taxes on oil companies don't make financial sense.

MARTY DURBIN: We are a very successful industry and one of the few industries that is creating jobs in this economy.

BRADY: Marty Durbin is the American Petroleum Institute's chief lobbyist, and he argues the tax breaks in question are the same benefits other businesses enjoy.

DURBIN: They're simple deductions and cost recovery mechanisms. Sometimes they have different names because do they apply to our industry - they're in our part of the tax code as opposed to others - but these are not, you know, special deals in any way.

BRADY: No question though, they are worth billions each year to an industry currently earning tens of billions in profits. Over at the Sierra Club, lobbyist Melinda Pierce is worried the supercommittee will trim budgets for agencies charged with protecting the environment.

MELINDA PIERCE: If you're looking for money to cut, don't do it from the programs that are chump change - let's go after some of these mature industries and make them pay their fair share.

BRADY: Pierce suspects the supercommittee may cut some incentives for renewable energy projects. She says that would be a little easier to accept if big oil's tax breaks go away, too.

PIERCE: Maybe that will help level the playing field and move us away from oil and towards a clean energy future.

BRADY: Of course, that assumes the Republicans and Democrats on the supercommittee are able to reach agreement before Thanksgiving. So far, that's an open question. Jeff Brady, NPR News.






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