WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Congress is getting ready to quadruple - to 32 cents a barrel - a tax on oil used to help pay for cleanups.

The increase would raise nearly $11 billion over the next decade.

The tax is levied on oil produced in the U.S. or imported from foreign countries. The revenue goes to a fund managed by the Coast
Guard to help pay to clean up spills in waterways, such as the Gulf of Mexico.

The tax increase is part of a larger bill that has grown into a nearly $200 billion grab bag of unfinished business that lawmakers
hope to complete before Memorial Day.