"By throwing in the towel on this massive payoff to polluters, Senate leaders have handed a major victory to the environment and a major defeat to the Bush administration and its industry allies. Try as they might, proponents could not hide the ugly truth about this bill: it includes billions in special interest giveaways while doing nothing to improve our nation's energy security."

"America needs to reduce our dependence on oil and promote a clean energy future. But this bill, crafted behind closed doors with the input of powerful polluting industries, would instead roll back the clock on environmental protection while handing over more than $60 billion to the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries."

"We have a bipartisan group of senators to thank for blocking passage of this bill. Proponents have vowed to revive it in January, but the more time senators have to read the fine print in this bill, the more outraged they'll be by its special interest handouts."

Friends of the Earth is the world's largest environmental network with member groups in 70 countries. The mission of Friends of the Earth is to defend the environment and champion a healthy and just world. For more information, visit http://www.foe.org