There were many regressive provisions in either or both versions of the bill that remain in the final. Some of the worst are:

• Massive cradle-to-grave subsidies for the nuclear industry. Conferees even piled on extra sweetener: $2 billion in risk insurance for the first six nuclear plants to get built and an expanded production tax credit.
• Stripping states of the authority to approve LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminals and handing sole authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
• Repeal of PUHCA (Public Utilities Holding Company Act) - the New Deal regulation that has kept our electricity cheap and our utilities solvent for 70 years. Without it, every utility in the country is vulnerable to Enron-style financial manipulation.
• Energy industry exemptions to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act were all in the House but not the Senate version. Now they are in the final bill.
• A mandated off-shore oil survey that will use seismic methods (setting off underwater blasts) that are known to harm dolphins, whales and other sea life.
• Tons of taxpayer money for the filthy rich oil, coal and gas industries, including an extra $1.5 billion snuck into the bill late Monday night AFTER the conference meeting had been gaveled to a close! The money would go to a special oil industry slush fund administered by an industry consortium based in Sugar Land, Texas - part of Tom DeLay's district.