The heavy cost of the oil moratorium, energy taxes, and other proposed measures by the Obama administration have workers in the energy sector up in arms and those from companies like Chevron (NYSE:CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) started protests off in three Texas cities, and will spread to other parts of the nation over the next couple of weeks.
Thousands of oil workers showed up at the Houston convention center to launch things off, with Port Arthur and Corpus Christi being the other two Texas cities having protests today.
The major, immediate concern was the loss of more jobs as the moratorium lengthens. There has been frustration over the second oil moratorium, which was a ploy used by the Obama administration to circumvent the ruling against the ban on the first moratorium.
Other than the shutting down the deepwater offshore oil business and jobs, another major issue is the attempt of the Obama administration to cut tax incentives the industry has used for years.
If they were to be removed, the government would siphon off about $36.5 billion over a 10-year period from the private sector and waste it in the public sector.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. has introduced a proposal which would rescind a current tax break for domestic manufacturing which allows oil companies to cut taxable income by 6 percent. That would affect the top five largest U.S. oil companies, but would hurt their hundreds of thousands of workers.
Other protests are planned in Illinois, Ohio, Colorado and New Mexico over the next couple of weeks.
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